
■4i'. ^ 









V 



X- ^i>. 









^0 



x^ -n 



<^ ■■■» 


























V 



■• ^<^'% ''Wm: ^.^-- 



^'' ^^- 



^ %^^# 



> 



•c. 'o , , • 



?' * 



o 






,** .--J. 



<*, 





'0^ 

o 



J>- ■' 






'<>^ 




.<^ ^!^'l^C 



%/ 



V 









■^ \^ :'^^^^:.\^ 



.v^. 



.5 * A 



^. 



^<^'' . ^ ' • , ^ 




MAJOR PETER RONAf 



Hi 



mmm 






fSJ^ieirefMisi 



11 






HISTORICAL SKETCH 

or THK 

Flathead lodian Nation 

From the Year 1813 to 1890. 



f:niltriiri ng tlic Hixtorif of' the Estiihlisli- 

mt'iit. of St. Miirfi's Iiiflidn JUis.tioit in 

till- Hitter Hoot inllty. Mont. 



M'it/i fikftrlie.s- of thf Jli.s.siotKiri/ IAf<- of 

I'dthi'f liiirnJli find Other Kai-li/ 

3/ is-aioniiries-. 



WABSoftheeUCKFEETdFUTHEIIDS 



.till! Shetfhc.s of lli.itory. Tfajtpin</ ami 

Tratlintj in tin- Knrly Ihii/s, 'C^WT^y OP -"-5 ., 
Illiistrntions. / '^ ^OPYR/GHr 

y ( nVJ) 84'='' 

BY PETER RONAN, '" " 

United States Indian Agent, Flat 
head Agency, Montana. 



Published and Copyrighted by the Journal Pub- 
lishing Co., Helena, Mont. 



V'b.'-^ (Jn 



f«3! 



M 










jgisi pjgisi pgisi 1^ 



Is 
m 

m 

P 
1 



'8 



PREFACE. 

The compiling of tliis little work was done 
by the author at the Flathead Agency, Mon- 
tana, during leisure hours. It was published 
in the Helena Montana Journal, and from the 
columns of that paper transferred into book • 
form. At the solicitation of friends it has been 
sent out in its present shape. No merit is 
claimed for the work, except that it is a plain 
historical sketch of the Flathead Indian 
nation, from 1813, to present date, with the 
history of the establishment of St. Mary's Mis- 
sion, by Father DeSmet, and scenes and 
incidents of the olden times in Montana. 

The Author. 
Flathead Agency, 1890. 



Isifflia 



SIMS 



IsiffllliiSi 



iHiffli 






bffiim) 






SYNOPSIS OF CONTENTS. 

Cox's Adventures on the Columbia River. 
McMillan's Trading Post, at mouth of Mis- 
soula River. 

first Celebration of Christmas by white men 
in Montana. 

Torturing a Blackfoot prisoner. 
War l^etween the Flatheads and the Hlack- 
feet. 

Good Traits of the Flatheads. 
The War Chief 
Indian Cure for Rheumatism. 
Flathead Code of Morahty. 
Flathead Tradition in Respect to Beavers. 
The Name Flathead a Misnomer. 
Description of the real Flatheads and the 
Mode of Flattening the Heads. 
Marriage of Pieie Michael. 
At the Spokane Trading Post. 
Letter from Okimagen, Feb. 1814. 
St. Mary's Mi.ssion, in the Bitter Root Val- 
ley. 

The Flathead Tribe send a Delegation of 

Indians to St. Louis, in 1836, to bring them 

Catholic Missionaries, but they never returned. 

A Second Delegation sent in 1837 — all 

killed by Sioux Indians. 

A Third Expedition successful in reaching 
St. Louis, in 1839. 

Father DeSniet accompanied the Indians 
back to the Rocky Mountains. 

St. Mary's Mission Established in 1841. 
First Seed planted in Montana in 1842. 
Arrival of F'ather Anthony Ravalli. 
First Grist and Saw Mill Erected in Mon- 
tana, 

Jealousies of the Trappers and Fur Traders. 

St. Maiy's Mission Abandoned. 

Major Owen's Acquisition of Fort Owen. 



1 

m 



W4 






m 


















5«a 












Wreck of the Missionaries at Horse Plains 
and Thompson Falls. 

St. Ignatius Mission Established in 1854. 

St. Mary's Mission Re-Established in 1866. 

The Great E.\plorers, Lewis and Clarke, 
among the Flathead Indians 

Election of Chief Victor. 

An Indian Buffalo Hunt in Old Times. 

Official visit of Senator 0. C. Vest, of Mis- 
.souri, and Major Martin Maginnis, Represen- 
tative from Montana. 

Council with the Indians at Flathead 
Agency. 

Council with Chief Chariot at St. Mary's 
Mission. 

Description of Chief Chariot. 

The Treaty Between Governor Stevens and 
Chief Victor. 

President Garfield's Agreement with Chief 
Chariot and the Signatures Attached to the 
same. 

Synopsis of the Official Report of Senator 
Vest and Representative Maginnis. 

Ymt to Washington of Chief Chariot and 
Delegation of Indians accompanied by Agent 
Ronan. 

A Council lietween the Agent, and Chief Char- 
lot's band at St. Mary's Mission. 

Number of Indians Living in Bitter Root 
Valley in 1884. 

Council held in 1884, Represented on the 
part of the United States by Hon. J. K. 
McCammon, Assistant Attorney General of the 
Interior Department, Hon. W. F Sanders, on 
the part of the Northern Pacific Railroad. 
Indians Represented l)y Chief Michael, Chief 
Eneas and Chief Arlee. 

Sketch of the last of the War Chiefs, Arlee. 
Adolph and Big Canoe 

Bulwer's translation of Schiller's Burial 
Song. 



^1?^^ fSl^l51fSi^l5 



IgiBslHi 





















IN YE OLDEN DATS 



A History of the Flathead Indian Na- 
tion and Its Decline. 



BLACKFEET WARS OF EXTERMINATION 



Tbe First Christmas Celebrated Iby White 

Men in Montana— The Early Traders of 

the Missoula River. 



By Major Pet«r Ronan. 

[Copyrighted.] 

On Thursday, the 17th of October, 1811, 
there sailed from New York for Astoria the 
good ship Beaver, owned and outfitted by 
John Jacob Astor, the founder of the great 
Northwest Fur company. Among the 
cabin passengers was a young man by the 
name of Cox, who, upon his return to 
■ England, in 1817, wrote "Cox's Adventures 
on the Columbia River," and to his nara- 
tive I am indebted for much of the early 
information contained in those pages con- 
cerning the Flathead Indians of Montana. 
After the arrival of the ship at Astoria, Mr. 
Cox was sent with a large party of hunters 
and trappers to explore and establish trad- 
ing posts on the upper waters and tribu- 
utaries of the Columbia river. 

The following is an extract from the 
letter of instructions, sent from 
headquarters at Astoria to Mr. Cox, who 
was then trading for the company at Oka- 
nagan. "You will assume the immediate 
management of the brigade and everything 



f 






also during the voyage, and make the best 
of your way to Spokane House, where you 
will make as little delay as possible. From 
thence you will proceed to join Mr. McMil- 
lin at the Flatheads; and if you are reduced 
to eat horses, either at Spokane or further 
on, they ought to be the worst." 

The liberal writer of this economical ad- 
vice was one of the chief managers of Mr. 
Astor's trading post at Astoria, and was 
spoken of in other respects to be a very 
worthy, good natured individual. At Spo- 
kane several horses had to be killed for food, 
but as Mr. Cox was noted as a good liver 
and fond of the substantial fat and lean, 
candidly confessed that in his choice ot 
horses for the kettle, he willfully departed 
from his instructions by selecting those 
whose ribs were least visible. 

On the 24th of December, 1813, McMillan's 
trading post was reached. The fort was 
situated on a point at the mouth of the 
Missoula river, and described as formed by 
the junction of a bold mountain torrent 
with the Flathead river, and surrounded on 
all sides with high and thickly wooded hills, 
covered with pine, spruce, larch, beech, 
birch and cedar. The Flathead river is now 
called the Pend d'Oreille river,» but appears 
on the maps from its junction with the Mis- 
soula river as Clarke's Fork of the Columbia. 
At this point, which is now the western 
boundary of the Flathead reservation, as 
before stated, McMillan erected his fort. It 
had a good trading store, a comfortable 
house for the men, and snug quarters for 
the officer of the company in charge, 
his clerk and assistants. The Montana 
historian may safely record those buildings 

as the first ever erected within the broad 
2 



1 









siMjmJ 















mi 



limits of her boundaries. Here Mr. Cox and 
his fellow-voyagers took up their winter 
quarters. A large band of Flathead warriors 
were encamped about the fort. They had 
recently returned from the Buflfalo country 
and had avenged their defeat of the preced- 
ing year by a signal victory over their ene- 
mies, the Blackfeet, several of whose war- 
riors, with their women, they had taken 
prisoners, McMillan's tobacco and stock of 
trading goods had been entirely expended 
previous to this arrival, and the Indians 
were much in want of ammunition; the 
goods brought were therefore a source of 
great joy to both parties. The natives 
smoKed the much loved weed for several 
days successively. The hunters killed a 
few mountain sheep, and Cox brought up 
a bag of flour, a bag of rice, plenty of tea 
and coffee, some arrowroot, and fifteen gal- 
lons of prime rum. 

There was celebrated the first Christmas 
ever celebrated by white men in Montana , 
territory. Mr. Cox says: "We spent a com- 
paratively happy Christmas, and by the side 
of a blazing fire in a warm room, forgot the 
sufferings we endured in our dreary progress 
through the woods. There was, however, 
in the midst of our festivities a great draw- 
back, from the pleasure we should other- 
wise have enjoyed. I allude to the un- 
fortunate Blackfeet who had been captured 
by the Flatheads. Having been informed 
that they were about putting one of their 
prisoners to death, I went to their camp to 
witness the spectacle. The man was tied to 
a tree, after which they heated an old barrel 
of a gun until it became red hot, with which 
they burned him on the legs, thighs, 
neck, cheek and stomach. They then com- 



HI 


















i^mM 



mm^ 



MMM 






menced cutting the flesh from about the 
nails, which they pulled out, and next sep- 
arated the fingers from the hand joint by- 
joint. During the performance of these cru- 
elties, the wretched captive never winced, 
and instead of suing for mercy he added 
fresh stimulants to their barbarous ingenu- 
ity by the most irritating reproaches, part of 
which our interpreter translated as follows: 
"My heart is strong; you do not hurt me; 
you can't hurt me; you are fools; you do not 
know how to torture: try it again; I don't 
feel any pain yet. We torture your relations 
a great deal better, because we make them 
cry out loud, like little children. You are 
not brave — you have small hearts, and you 
are always afraid to fight." 

Then addressing one m particular he said: 
"It was by my arrow you lost your eye;" 
upon which the Flathead darted at him 
and with a knife in a moment scooped out 
one of his eyes, at the same time cutting the 
bridge of his nose almost in two. This did 
not stop him; with the remaining eye he 
looked sternly at another and said, "I killed 
your brother, and I scalped your old fool of 
a lather." The warrior to whom this was 
addressed instantly sprung at him and sep- 
arated the scalp from his head. He was 
then about plunging a knife in his heart, 
until he was told by the chief to desist. The 
raw scull, bloody socket and mutilated nose 
now presented a horrible appearance, but 
by no means changed his tone of defiance. 

"It was I," said he to the chief, "that 

made your wife a prisoner last fall — we put 

put out her eyes; we tore out 

her tongue; we treated her like a 

dog. Forty of our young warriors — " 

The chief became incensed the moment his 
4 






151M^ 



igiMfS 









SIMM 






\m 




wife's name was mentioned; he seized his 
gun and, before the last sentence was ended, 
a ball from it passed through the brave fel- 
low's heart and terminated his frightful 
sufferings. Shocking, however, as this 
dreadful exhibition was, it was far exceeded 
by the atrocious cruelties practiced on the 
female prisoners. We remonstrated against 
the exercise of such horrible cruelties. They 
replied by saying the Blackfeet treated their 
prisoners in the same manner; that it was 
the course adopted by all red warriors, and 
that they could not think of giving up the 
gratification of their revenge to the foolish 
and womanish feelings of white men. 

Shortly after this we observed a young fe- 
male led forth, apparently not more than 
fourteen or fifteen years of age, surrounded 
by some old women, who were conducting 
her to one end of the village, 
whither they were followed by a 
number of young men. Having learned 
the infamous intentions of her conquerors, 
and feeling interested for the unfortunate 
victim, we renewed our remonstrances, but 
received nearly the same answer as before. 
Finding them still inflexible, and wishing 
to adopt every means in our power consist- 
ent with safety, in the cause of humanity, 
we ordered our interpreter to acquaint them 
that, highly as we valued their friendship 
and much as we esteemed their furs, we 
would quit their country for ever unless 
they discontinued their unmanly and dis- 
graceful cruelties to their prisoners. This 
had the desired effect, and the miserable 
captive was led back to her sorrowing group 
of friends. Our interference was nearly ren- 
dered ineffectual by the furious old priest- 
esses who had been conducting her to the 
5 












IsiMm 






Sims 



siSmJ 






isiMisJ 






SIMM 






m 






m 



'm 



sacrifice. They told the young warriors they 
were cowards, fools and had not the 
hearts of fleas, and called on them in the 
names of their mothers, sisters and wives to 
follow the steps of their forefathers and have 
their revenge on the dogs of Blackfeet. They 
began to waver, but we affected not to un- 
derstand what the old women had been 
saying. We told them that this act of self- 
denial on their part was peculiarly grateful 
to the white men, and by it they would se- 
cure our permanent residence among them, 
and in return for their furs be always fur- 
nished with guns and ammunition sufficient 
to repel the attacks of their old enemies, and 
preserve their relations from being made 
prisoners. This decided the doubtful and 
the chief promised faithfully that no more 
tortures should be inflicted on the prisoners, 
which I believe was rigidly adhered to, at 
least during the winter of 1813. 

The Flatheads were formerly much more 
numerous than they were at this period, 
but owing to the constant hostilities be- 
tween them and the Blackfeet Indians their 
numbers had been greatly diminished. 
While pride, policy, ambition, self-preser- 
vation, or the love of aggrandizement, often 
deluges the civilized world with Christian 
blood, the only cause assigned by the natives 
of whom I write for their perpetual war- 
fare, is the love of buffalo. There are ex- 
tensive plains to the eastward of the moun- 
tains frequented in the summer and au- 
tumnal months by numerous herds of 
buffalo. Hither ttie river tribes repair to 
hunt those animals, that they may procure 
as much of their meat as will supply them 

until the succeeding season. In these ex- 
6 



» 












ElMfSJ 















cursions they often meet and the most 
sanguinary conflicts follow. 

"The Blackfeet claimed all of that part of 
the country immediately at the foot of the 
mountains, east of the main range, which 
was most frequented by the buffalo; and 
alleged that the Flatheads, by resorting 
thither to hunt, were intruders whom they 
were bound to oppose on all occasions. The 
latter, on the contrary, asserted that their 
forefathers had always claimed and exercised 
the right of hunting on these disputed lands; 
and that while one of their warriors re- 
mained alive the right should not be relin- 
quished. The consequence of these con- 
tinued wars was dreadful, particularly to the 
Flatheads, who, being the weaker in num- 
bers, were generally the greatest sufferers. 
Independent of their inferiority in this re- 
spect, their enemy had another great ad- 
vantage in the use of firearms, which 
they obtained from the company's trad- 
ing posts established in the department of 
Forts des Prairies. To those the Flatheads 
had nothing to oppose but arrows and their 
own undaunted bravery. Every year pre- 
vious to the coming of McMillan's party 
witnessed the gradual diminution of their 
numbers, and total annihilation would 
shortly have been the consequence but for 
the establishment of the trading post at the 
mouth of the Missoula, and the arrival of 
Cox and his party with a plentiful supply of 
arms and ammunition for trade, They were 
overjoyed at haying an opportunity of pur- 
chasing them, and quickly stocked them- 
selves with a sufficient huantity of both. 

From this moment affairs took a decided 
change in their favor, and in their subse- 
quent contests the numbers of killed. 















mmm 






f2j»^[SJasi(sjMis) 



wounded aud prisoners were more equal. 
The Blackfeet became enraged at this, and 
declared to the company's people at Fort 
des Prairies that all white men who might 
fall into their hands, to the westward of the 
mountains, would be .treated by them as 
enemies, in consequence of their furnishing 
the Flatheads with weapons which were 
used with such deadly effect 

against their nation. This threat, as will 
appear hereafter, was strictly put in execu- 
tion. The lands of the Flatheads, in those 
days were well stocked with deer, mountain 
sheep, bears, mountain goat, wild fowl and 
fish, and when an endeavor was made to in- 
duce them to give up such aangerous expe- 
ditions and confine themselves to the pro- 
duce of their own country, they replied that 
their fathers had always hunted on the buf- 
falo grounds; that they were accustomed to 
do the same thing from their infancy, and 
they would not now abandon a practice 
which existed for generations among their 
people. 

Mr. Cox stated in his writings of those 
early days, that with exception of the cruel 
treatment of their prisoners (which as it 
was general among all Indians, must not be 
imputed to them as a peculiar vice) Flat- 
heads had fewer failings than any of the 
tribes he ever met with. He described them 
as honest in their dealings, brave in the 
field, quiet and amenable to their chiefs, 
fond of cleanliness, and decided enemies to 
falsehood of every description. The women 
were excellent wives and mothers and their 
character for fidelity so well established that 
the early traveler and trader bears witness 
that he never heard of an instance of one 

of them proving unfaithful t© her husband. 

8 



Id 






mmm 















rney were also ftee trom the vice of back 
bitinff, so common among the lower tribes, 
and laziness was a stranger among them. 
Both sexes were described as comparatively 
very fair, and their complexions a shade 
lighter than the palest new cop- 
per after being freshly rubbed. They 
are remarkably well made, rather 
slender and very seldom corpu- 
lent. The dress of the men in those 
days consisted solely of long leggings, which 
reached from the ankles to the hips, and were 
fastened by strings to a leathern belt around 
the waist, and a shirt of dressed deer skin 
with loose hanging sleeves, which fell down 
to their knees. The outside seams of the 
leggings and shirt sleeves had fringes of 
leather. The women were covered by a 
loose robe of the same material reaching 
from the neck to the feet, and ornamented 
with fringes, beads, hawk-bills and thimbles. 
The dresses of both were regularly cleaned 
with pipe clay, which abounds in parts of 
the country. They had no permanent 
covering for the head, but in wet or stormy 
weather sheltered it by part of a buffalo 
robe, which completely answered all pur- 
poses of a surtout. The principal chief of 
the tribe was hereditary; but from their 
constant wars they adopted the wise and 
salutary custom of electing as their leader 
in battle that warrior in whom the greatest 
portions of wisdom, strength and bravery 
were combined. The election took place 
every year, and it sometimes occurred that 
the general in one campaign became a pri- 
vate in the next. This "war 
chief," as they termed him, had no author- 
ity whatever when at home and was as 
any of the tribe to the heriditary chief; but 






I — iIcttV r— I 












\smm 









when the warriors set out on their hunting 
excursions to the buffalo plains, he assumed 
the supreme command, which he excer- 
cised with despotic sway until their return. 
He carried a long whip with a thick handle, 
decorated with scalps and feathers and gen- 
erally appointed two active warriors as aides 
de camp. On their advance toward the 
enemy he always took the lead, and on their 
return he brought up the rear. Great regu- 
larity was observed during the march, and if 
any of the tribe fell out of the ranks or 
committed any other breach of discipline, 
he instantly received a flagellation from the 
whip of the war chieftain. He acted with 
the most perfect impartiality and would 
punish one of his subalterns for disobe- 
dience of orders with equal severity as any 
other offender. Custom, however, joined to 
a sense of tribal duty, had reconciled them 
to these arbitrary acts of power, which they 
never complained of or attempted to resent. 
After the conclusion of the cam- 
paign, or their arrival on their 
own lands his authority ceases; 
when the peace chief calls all the tribe to- 
gether, and they proceed to a new election. 
There was no canvassing, caucussing, cat- 
hauling or intriguing, and should the last 
leader be superseded, he retires from his 
ofBce with apparent indifference, and with- 
out betraying any symptoms of discontent. 
At the time of which Mr. Cox wrote the 
fighting chief had been five times re-elected. 
He was about thirty-five years of age and 
had killed twenty of the Blackfeet in various , 
battles, the scalps of whom were suspended 
in triumphal pride from a pole at tlie door 
' if his lodge. His wife had been captured by 

i he enemy the year before and her loss made 
10 



m 






m 

m 
11 












Pv^is] 



rnmm 



mMm 



PS51 




Signal of Successful Flathead War Party 



jisiMja 



IS1MJ3 















a deep impression on him. He was highly 
respected by all the warriors for his superior 
wisdom and bravery, a consciousness of 
which, joined to the length of time he had 
been accustomed to command, imparted to 
his manners a degree of dignity which was 
not remarked in any other Indian. He 
would not take a second wife, and when the 
recollection of the one he had lost came 
across his mind, he retired into the deepest 
solitude of the woods to indulge his sorrow, 
where some of the tribe stated 
they often found him calling on her 
spirit to appear, and invoking vengeance 
upon her conquerors. When these bursts 
of grief subsided his countenance assumed 
a tinge of stern melancholy, strongly indi- 
cating the mingled emotions of sorrow and 
unmitigated hatred of the Blackfeet. He 
was invited sometimes to the fort, on which 
occasions he was sympathized with upon 
his loss; but at the same time acquainted 
with the manner in which civilized 
nations made war. He was told that war- 
riors were only made prisoners, who were 
never tortured or killed, and no brave white 
man would ever injure a female or a de- 
fenseless man; that if such a custom had 
prevailed among them, he would now by 
the exchange of prisoners be able to recover 
his wife, who was by their barbarous system 
lost to him forever; and if it were possible 
to bring about a peace with their enemies, 
the frightful horrors of war might at least 
be considerably softened by adopting the 
practice of civilized nations. It was added 
that he now had a glorious op- 
portunity of commencing the career 
of magnanimity by sending home 

uninjured the captives he had made during 
11 




I 

k 






M 






SIMM 



siMia 






"SKIS 









ieMfmJieiMfsJ 



the last campaign; that the friends of the 
company on the eastern side of the moun- 
tains would exert their influence with the 
Blackfeet to induce them to follow his ex- 
ample and that ultimately it might be the 
means of uniting the two rival nations in 
the bonds of peace. He was at first opposed 
to making any advance, but on farther 
pressing he consented to make the trial, 
provided that the hereditary chief and the 
tribe started no objection. On quitting the 
fort he made use of the following words: 
"My white friends, you do not know the 
savage nature of the Blackfeet; they hope to 
exterminate the tribe of the Selish, whom 
y:u call Flatheads; they are a great deal 
more numerous than we are, and were it not 
for our bravery their object would have long 
ago been achieved. We shall now, accord- 
ing to your wishes, send back the prisoners; 
but remember, I tell you, that they will 
laugh at the interference of your 
relations beyond the moantains 
and never spare a man, woman or child 
that they can take of our nation. Your ex- 
ertions to save blood show you are good 
people. If they follow our example we 
shall kill no more prisoners, but I tell you 
they will laugh at you and call you fools." 

The war chief, true to his words, assembled 
the elders and warriors, to whom he repre- 
sented the subject of the discourse, and, 
after a long speech, advised them to make 
the trial, which would please their white 
friends and show their readiness to avoid 
unnecessary cruelty. Such an unexpected 
proposition gave rise to an animated debate, 
which continued for some time, but being 
supported by a man for whom they enter- 
tained so much respect, it was finally car- 
13 



m 



m 






m 


















ried, and it was determined to send home 
the Blackfeet on the breaking up of the 
winter. The traders undertook to furnish 
them with horses and provisions for their 
journey, or to pay the Flatheads for so 
doing. This was agreed to, and about 
the middle of March the prisoners 
took their departure tolerably well mounted, 
and with dried meat enough to take them to 
their friends. Mr. McMillan who had passed 
three years in the Blackfoot country, and - 
was acquainted with their language, in- 
formed them of the exertions used to save 
their lives and prevent farther repetitions of 
torture; and requested them particularly to 
mention the circumstance to their country- 
men, in order that they might adopt a simi- 
lar proceeding. Letters were also sent by 
them to the gentlemen in charge of the dif- 
ferent establishments at Forts des Prairies, 
detailing the matter, and impressing on 
them the necessity of their attempting to in- 
duce the Blackfeet in their vicinity to follow 
the example set them by the Flatheads. 

In those days the Flatheads were a healthy 
tribe and subject to few diseases. Common 
fractures caused by an occasional pitch off a 
horse., or a fall down a declivity in the ardor 
of hunting, were cured by tight bandages 
and pieces of wood like staves placed longi- 
tudinally around the part, to which 
they were secured by leathern thongs. 
For contusions they generally bled either in 
the temples, arms, wrists or ankles with 
pieces of sharp flint, or heads of arrows. 
Mr. Cox relates that he experienced some 
acute rheumatic attacks^ An old Indian 
proposed to relieve him provided he con- 
sented to follow the mode of cure practiced 

by him in similar cases on younsr warriors of 
13 









IsSral 



ra^^isifswiei 



\s\mM 



\smm 



\s\MM\ 



the tribe. On inquiring the method he in- 
tended to pursue he replied that it merely 
consisted in getting up early every morning 
for some weeks and plunging into the river 
and to leave the rest to him. This was a 
most chilling proposition, far the river was 
firmly frozen, and an opening had to be 
made in the ice preparatory to each immer- 
sion. The patient asked him; ''Would it 
not answer equally well to have the water 
brought to the bed warm?" But he shook 
his head and replied that he was 
surprised that a young white chief 
who ought to be wise should ask so foolish 
a question. As rheumatism was a stranger 
among Indians, and as he was upwards of 
three thousand miles from any professional 
assistance, he determined to adopt the dis- 
agreeable expedient, and commenced opera- 
tions the following morning. The Indian 
first broke a hole in the ice sufficiently rarge 
to admit both. Enveloped in a large buff- 
alo robe the patient proceeded to the spot, 
and throwing off his covering, with the 
Flathead jumped into the frigid orifice to- 
gether. The Indian immediately com- 
menced rubbing the shoulders, back and 
loins of the white man, whose hair in the 
meantime became ornamented with icicles, 
and while the lower joints were undergoing 
their friction, his face, neck and shoulders 
were encased in a thin covering of ice. On 
getting released he was rolled in a 
blanket and taken back to the bed room, in 
which a good fire was burning, and in a few 
minutes he experienced a warm glow all 
over his body. Chilling and disagreeable as 
those ablutions were, yet, as he found them 
so beneficial, he c@ntinued them for twenty- 
five days, at the expiration of which his 
14 



m 






f^J^pisi 
























physician was pleased to say that no more 
were necessary, and that his patient had 
done his duty like a wise man. He stated 
that he was never after troubled with a rheu- 
matic pain. 

In the early times the Flatheads believed 
in the existence of a god and evil spirit, and 
consequently in a future state of reward and 
punishment. Thej- held that after death the 
good Indian went to a country in which 
there was perpetual summer; that he would 
meet his wife and children; that the 
rivers would abound with fish, and the 
plains with the much loved bufifalo; 
and that he will spend this time in hunting 
and fishing, free from the terrors of war, 
or the apprehensions of cold or famine. The 
bad man, they believed, would go to a place 
covered with eternal snow; that he would 
always be shivering with cold, and would 
see fires at a distance which he could not 
enjoy; water which he cannot procure to 
quench his thirst, and buffalo and deer 
which he cannot kill to appease his hunger. 
An impenetrable wood, full of wolves, 
panthers and sernents separates these 
"shrinking slaves of winter" from their 
more fortunate bretliren in the "meadows 
of ease." Their punishment is not, how- 
ever, eternal, and according to the different 
shades of their crimes they are sooner or 
later emancipated and permitted to join 
their friends in the Elysean fields. 

Their code of morality, although short, 
was comprehensive. They held that hon- 
esty, bravery, love of truth, attention to 
parents, obedience to their chiefs and affec- 
tion for their wives and children are the 
principal virtues which entitle them to the 
place'of happiness, while the opposite vices 

15 



IsiMraJ isiSsJ Isffiisl IsiMisJ 



fsi^isirawsi 



iSlMfSJ 



^) 



MM2^M\MM 









condemn to that of misery. They had a 
curious tradition with respect to beavers. 
They firmly believed that these animals were 
a fallen race of Indians, who, in consequence 
of their wickedness, vexed the Good Spirit, 
and were condemned by him to their present 
shape; but that in due time they will be re- 
stored to their speech, and that they have 
heard them talk with each other, and seen 
them sitting in council on an oflFending 
member. 

The readers of natural history are already 
well acquainted with the surprising 
sagacity of these wonderful ani- 
mals, now fast disappearing from 
our waters; with their dexterity in cutting 
down trees, their skill in constructing their 
houses, and their foresight in collecting and 
storing provisions sufficient to last them 
during the winter months, but few are aware 
of a remarkable custom amongthem, which, 
more than any other, confirms the Indians 
in believing them a fallen race. Towards 
the latter end of autumn, a certain number, 
varying from twenty to thirty, assemble for 
the purpose of building their winter habita- 
tions. They immediately commence cutting 
down trees; and nothing can be more won- 
derful than the skill and patience which 
they manifest in this laborious undertaking; 
to see them anxiously looking up watching 
the leaning of the tree when the trunk is 
nearly severed, and, when its creaking an- 
nounces its approaching fall, to ob- 
serve them scampering off in all 
directions to avoid being crushed 
When the tree is prostrate they quickly strip 
it of its branches, after which with their 
dental ciiisels they divide the trunk into sev- 
eral pieces of equal lengths which they roll 
16 



f^'i 






[h;^^ 



^j^^osi "eissi pwi5] 



eiMialSl^ISJElMMl 



ISlMMJElMimJ 



f^r;^;isi[2i=;a^ 



si>^^jmj 



bifflimj 



PMS] 






to the rivulet across which they intent to 
erect their houses. Two or three old ones 
generally superintend the others; and it is 
no unusual sight to see them beating those 
who exhibit any symptoms of laziness. 
Should, however, any fellow be incorrigible, 
and persist in refusing to work, he is driven 
unanimously by the whole tribe to seek 
shelter and provisions elsewhere. These 
outlaws are therefore obliged to pass a mis- 
erable winter, half starved in a burrow on 
the banks of some stream where they are 
easily trapped. The Indians call them "lazy 
beaver," and their fur is not half so valua- 
ble as that of the other animals, whose per- 
severing industry secure them provisions 
and a comfortable shelter during the sever- 
ity of winter. 

Even in those early times the hunters and 
trappers could not discover why the Black- 
feet and Flatheads received their respective 
designations, for the feet of the former are 
no more inclined to sable than any other 
part of the body, while the heads of the 
latter possess their fair proportion of ro- 
tundity. Indeed it is only below the falls 
and rapids that real Flatheads appear, and 
at the mouth of the Columbia that they 
flourish most supernaturally. 

The tribes who practice the custom ot 
flattening the head, and who lived at the 
mouth of the Columbia, differed little from 
each other in laws, manners or customs, and 
were composed of the Cathlamahs, Kill- 
mucks, Clatsops, Chinooks and Chilts. The 
abominable custom of flattening their heads 
prevails among them all. Immediately 
after birth, wrote Mr. Cox, in 1814, the in- 
fant is placed in a kind of oblong cradle 
formed like a troiigh, with moss under it. 



mmm 



151MEJ 



wmm 



mmm 



\sMm\smM\smM 



WrS^ 



mms\mms\ 



\sMm\sMM 






fMMl^ 






ii 




One end, on which the head reposes, is more 
elevated than the rest. A padding is then 
pressed upon the forehead, with a piece of 
cedar bark over it, and by means of cords 
passed through small holes in each side of 
the cradle, the padding is pressed against the 
head. It is kept in this manner upwards of 
a year, and is not, I believe, attended with 
much pain. The appearance of the 
infant, however, while in this state 
of compression is frightful, and its little 
black eyes, forced out by the tightness of 
the bandages, resemble those of a mouse 
choked in a trap. When released from this 
inhuman process the head is perfectly flat- 
tened, and the upper part of it seldom ex- 
ceeds an inch in thickness. It never after- 
wards recovers its rotundity. They deem 
this an essential point of beauty, and the 
most devoted adherent of Charles I. never 
entertained a stronger aversion to a Round- 
head than these savages. Dr. Swan, in ex- 
amining some skulls takea to England, con- 
fessed that nothing short of ocular demon- 
stration could have convinced him of the 
possibility of moulding the human head 
into such a form 

They allege, as an excuse for this custom, 
that all their slaves have round heads; and 
accordingly every child of a bondsman who 
is not adopted by the tribe Inherits not only 
his father's degradation but his parental ro- 
tundity of cranium. Why the great Selish 
tribe of Montana were called Flatheads will 
ever remain a mystery. The Indians do 
not know by what means they came to be 
called Flatheads. 

Mr. Cox speaks of the marriage, in the 

winter of 1813, at their fort, at the mouth of 

he Missoula river, of Piere Michel, the 
18 



ii 






mmm 















hunter, guide and interpreter of the expedi- 
tion. As the descendants of the same Piere 
Michel are now among the very best Indians 
of the Flathead reservation, I shall give the 
account of the marriage as it is probably the 
earliest recorded in the annals of Montana. 
It appears Michel accompanied the Flat- 
heads on two of their war campaigns, and 
by his unerring aim and undaunted bravery 
won the affection of the whole tribe. He 
was the son of a respectable Canadian by an 
Indian mother. The war chief in particular 
paid great attention to his opinion, and con- 
sulted him in any difficult matter. Michel 
wanted a wife; and having succeeded in 
gaining the affection of a handsome girl 
about 16 years of age, and niece to the her- 
iditary chief, he made a formal proposal for 
her. A council was thereupon called, at 
which her uncle presided, to take Michel's 
offer into consideration. One young war- 
rior loved her and had obtained a previous 
promise from her mother that she should 
be his. He, therefore, with all 
his relations, strongly opposed her 
union with Piere, and urged his own claims 
which had been sanctioned by her mother. 
The war chief asked him if she had ever 
promised to become his wife; he replied in 
the negative. The chief then addressed the 
councU, and particularly the lover, in favor 
of Michel's suit; pointing out the great ser- 
vice he had rendered the tribe by his bravery 
and dwelling strongly on the policy of unit- 
ing him more firmly to their interests by 
consenting to the proposed marriage, which 
he said would forever make him as one of 
their brothers. His influence predominated, 
and the unsuccessful rival immediately after 

shook hands with Michel and told the young 
19 



I 






p^^isi ps^ ra^i^ pwsi pms] ,11 


















woman, as he could not be her husband, he 
hoped she would always regard him as her 
brother. This she readily premised to do, 
and so ended the opposition. The happy 
Piere presented a gun to her uncle,some cloth, 
calico, and ornaments to her female relatives; 
with a pistol and handsome dagger to his 
friend. He proceeded in the evening to the 
chiefs lodge, where a number of her friends 
had assembled to smoke. Here she re- 
ceived a lecture from the old man, her 
mother and a few other ancients on her 
duty as a wife and mother. They strongly 
exhorted her to be chase, obedient, indus- 
trious and silent; and when absent with 
her husband among her tribes always to 
stay at home, and have no intercourse with 
strange Indians. She then retired with the 
old woman to an adjoining hut, where she 
underwent an ablution and bade adieu to 
her buckskin chemise, the place of which 
was supplied by one of gingham, to which 
was added a calico and green cloth petticoat 
and a gown of blue cloth. After this was 
over she was conducted back to her uncle's 
lodge, where she received farther advice 
as to her future conduct. A 
procession was then formed by the two 
chiefs, and several warriors carrying blazing 
torches of pitch pine, to escort the bride and 
her husband to the fort. They began sing- 
ing war songs in praise of Michel's bravery, 
and of their triumph over the Blackfeet. 
She was surrounded by a group of young 
and old women, some of whom were rejoic- 
ing and others crying. The men moved on 
first in a slow, solemn pace, still chanting 
their war song. The women followed at a 
short distance, and when the whole party 

arrived in front of the fort they formed a cir- 

J.'O 



m 



m 
























1 



cle and commenced dancing and singing, 
which they kept up about twenty minutes. 
After this the calumet of peace went around 
once more, and when the smoke of the last 
whiffs had disappeared, Michel shook hands 
with his late rival, embraced the chiefs and 
conducted his bride to his room. Michel 
was the only person of the party to whom 
the Flatheads would give one of their 
women in marriage. 

On the 4th of April, 1814, Mr. Cox and his 
party took leave of the fort and the Flathead 
camp at the mouth of the Missoula river, on 
their way to Spokane house, while they pro- 
ceeded to make preparations for the ensuing 
summer's campaign in the far business. On 
the 15th they arrived at Spokane house, and 
as the site of that ancient fur trading post is 
now in the heart of the booming city of Spo- 
kane, in Washington territory, I cannot re- 
frain from copying the subjoined letter, 
written by McGillivray from Okanagan, in 
the same territory, at which place he had 
wintered, but for want of conveyance could 
not be forwarded to the fort at the mouth of 
the Missoula river. Although accustomed to 
the style of living on the eastern side of the 
mountains and well acquainted with In- 
dians, this was his first winter on the Co- 
lumbia, and for information of the hatred of 
those Englishmen, engaged undei the name 
of "American Fur company," to everything 
American, I shaU give an extract from one 
of his letters: 

Oakinagan, Feb., 1814. 

"This is a horrible dull place. Here I 
have been since you parted from us, perfectly 
solus. My men, half Canadians and half 
Sandwich Islanders. The library is wretched 
aud no chance of my own books till next 




H 






IS 















m 



year, when the Athalasca men cross the 
mountains. If you, or my friends at Spo- 
kane, do not send me a few volumes I shall 
absolutely die of ennui. The Indians here 
are incontestably the most indolent rascals I 
ever met, and I assure it requires no small 
degree of authority, with the few men I 
have, to keep them in order. 

The snow is between two and three feet 
deep, and my trio of Owhyee generals find a 
sensible difference between such hyperbo- 
rean weather and the pleasing sunshine of 
their own tropical paradise. Poor fellows! 
They are not adapted for these latitudes, and 
I heartily wish they were at home in their 
own sweet islands, and sporting in the 'blue 
summer ocean' that surrounds them. I 
have not as yet made a pack of beaver. The 
lazy Indians won't work. 

I have hitherto principally subsisted on 
horseflesh. I cannot say it agrees with me. 

I have had plenty of pork, rice, arrowroot, 
flour, taroroot, tea and coffee; no sugar. 
With such a variety you will say I ought 
not to complain, but want of society has de- 
stroyed my relish for luxuries, and the only 
articles I taste above par are souching and 
molasses. What a contrast between the 
manner I spent last year and thisi In the 
first, with aU the pride of a newly created 
subaltern, occasionally fighting the Yankees 
"a la mode du pays," and anon sporting my 
silver wings before some admiring "pay- 
sanne" along the frontiers. Then what a 
glorious winter in Montreal, with captured 
Jonathans, triumphant Britons, astonished 
Indians, gaping "habitants," agitated beau- 
ties, balls, routs, dinners, suppers, parades, 
drums beating, colors flying, with all other 

pride, pomp and circumstances of glorious 
22 



m 



[sj^isi 









Sims 






siSmJ 












war! But Othello's occupation is gone! and 
here I am with a shivering guard of poor 
islanders, buried in snow, sipping molasses, 
smoking tobacco, and masticating horse 
flesh. 

ST. MARY'S MISSION, 

situated in the valley of the Bitter Root, in 
Missoula county, Montana territory, was es- 
tablished by Catholic missionaries belong- 
ing to the Society of Jesus; among the Flat- 
head Indians, who made their home in that 
lovely and picturesque valley in the year 
l&ll. These Indians, whose heads are not at 
all flattened, as the name given to them by 
some misinformed traveler might be in- 
ferred were living a nomadic life before the 
missionaries came among them, and were 
brave in war with other tribes of Indians 
who were their enemies. The Flatheads 
have always been friendly to the white race, 
and until this date it is their proud boast 
that the blood of a white man never stained 
the hand of a Flathead Indian! Though 
addicted to some superstitious practices 
common to Indians of all tribes, they had 
learned religious observances from Iriquois 
Indians, who in their hunting and trapping 
excursions had penetrated into the Bitter 
Root valley from their homes in 
the British possessions, where some of 
them intermarried with the Flat- 
heads and remarried with that tribe. 
The Flatheads hearing the Iriquois teach- 
ing the Catholic religion and prayers to their 
children, which had been inculcated and 
taught to the latter by the Jesuit Fathers, 
in their far off homes, where that self sacri- 
ficing order bad sought the Iriquois in their 
lairs and taught and converted them to the 

Catholic faith years before their advent 
23 





















among the Flathead Indians. A great de- 
sire arose in the hearts of the Flathead tribe 
to learn more about the word of God and to 
have missionaries among them to instruct 
them in religion. The Iriquois advised a 
delegation of Indians to be sent to St. jouis 
to lay their wishes before the black gowns as 
the Jesuit fathers were designated by the 
Iriquois. A council of the Indians was 
called by their chief and the proposition to 
Bend to St. Louis for Catholic missionaries 
was fully dizcussed. What an undertaking 
for those wUd, untutored sons of the Eocky 
Mountains, none of whom had ever seen a 
white settlement, and encountered 
but few white men in their lives 
— and those were almost as wild 
and untutored as the Indians, being 
hunters and trappers in the "employment of 
the Hudson Bay company. But their en- 
thusiasm was aroused and the thousands of 
miles to be traversed over trackless moun- 
tains, treeless plains, sandy deserts, rocky 
canons and deep, wide and rushing rivers — 
and their path beset on every side by impla- 
cable enemies of other tribes eagerly watch- 
ing for an opportunity to waylay them with 
the scalping knife and the tomahawk. But 
it was possible that they could reach St. 
Louis, and four of them volunteered to un- 
dertake the lone and dangerous journey. 
They started in the spring of the year 1836, 
but they did not come back, nor were they 
ever heard from. Whether killed while 
passing through the roaming places of their 
enemies or died of sickness or fatigue on 
their wearisome journey has never been 
known. 
The next year, 1837, three Flatheads, aNez 

Perces Indian and an Iropuois, the latter the 
34 






SIMS 



PTl.V.fTJ 



|Dii>^:rra!|[?n^.fF]' 






5\MM 









father of Francois, a worthy and wealthy 
Indian, who at this date is still a resident of 
Bitter Root valley and is well and favorably 
known by the settlers, started for St. Louis 
on a similar errand, but were all killed by 
the Sioux in Ash Hollow, on the South 
Platte. "When the delegation reached Fort 
Laramie, they were joined by W. H. Gray, 
who afterwards wrote a history of Oregon, 
who is yet a hale and hearty old man and 
an honored citizen of Astoria, Oregon. Mr. 
Gray was onihis way from Astoria to Mon- 
treal, with a party of voyagers, having 
in charge a boy by the name of 
Ermintinger, whose mother was a squaw, 
and whose father was one of the principal 
managers of the Northwest Fur Company's 
post at Astoria. The father was sending his 
boy back to Montreal in charge of Mr. Gray 
for the purpose of sending him to school. 
The Flathead delegation journeyed on with 
this party, but were met, as stated, in Ash 
Hollow by a war party of Sioux, who de- 
manded of Gray to what tribe the Indians 
belonged whe were journeying through 
their country with him. Mr. Gray, know- 
ing that the Flatheads and Sioux were at 
war with each other, in order to save their 
lives, replied that they were Snake Indians. 
The war chief then told Gray to get out of 
the way with his white companions, 
as it was his intention to slay the 
Indians whom he said were Snakss, as 
they were the enemies of the Sioiix. 
The father of Francois.the Iroquois,who was 
dressed like a white man, was told by the 
Sioux warrior to get out of the way with 
Gray and his companions, as they did not 
want to kill him. But the brave and gener- 
ous Iriquois replied that he was willing to 

take chances with his companions, and all 
25 



m 









M 






sjMS] f^jmei fmjmsi pw^ 
siMsJ IsiSsJ IsiMisJ 151»SJ 



prepared for resistence. Of course the whole 
party of Flatheads, including the Iriquois, 
and the Nez Perces Indians were slain and 
scalped after a desperate fight, in which Mr. 
Gray, young Ermintinger, and others of 
Gray's party, took a hand in defense of the 
Flatheads. Gray was shot in the forehead, 
and exhibited the bullet wound to the 
writer in the winter of 1883, while 
on his way east with the Oregon 
pioneers, over the Northern Pacific 
railroad. The Sioux warriors contented 
themselves by making prisoners of Gray's 
party, whom they kept in capavity for a 
short time with view of putcing them all 
to death, as several Sioux were. killed in the 
fight, and the son of the chief fell by the 
hand of Gray. Better council prevailed, 
however, and Mr. Gray and his compan- 
ions were permitted to depart, and, as stated 
before, that gentleman is still a citizen of 
Astoria and wrote and published a history 
of Oregon. News reached the Flatheads of 
the tragic death of their delegation at the 
hands of the Sioux warriors. But 
this did not deter the Flatheads, and 
their yearnings to know more of the 
white man's God and religion, but only in- 
creased by the dangers which lay between 
them and the knowledge for which they 
thirsted. In 1839, two young Iroquois an- 
nounced in council of the Flatheads, that 
notwithstanding the fate of the two previous 
delegations who had set out for St. Louis, 
they were ready to repeat the trial and con- 
duct Catholic missionaries to the tribe. 
Soon after this offer, it was learned that a 
party of Hudson Bay employes were going 
to make the voyage in canoes from the head 
waters of the Missouri to St. Louis, and the 

26 









ps^ [amei pmsi p^i^ 









lawp 



iSl^fSElMJ^ 















young Iroquois made applicationto accom- 
pany them and were accepted. In that 
same year the Indians arrived at 
St. Louis, and held audience with 
the Cathohc bishop of that city 
the Right Reverend Rosati. The bishop 
had a scarcity of clergymen in his newly 
formed diocese, but offered the Jesui* 
fathers the new mission, and the superior of 
that order accepted the offer of Father De 
Smet to accompany the Indians back to the 
Rocky mountains. 

In the spring of 1840 one of the Iroquois 
who made the voyage to St. Louis, suddenly 
arrived in the Flathead camp on Eight Mile 
creek, in the Bitter Root valley, and an- 
nounced that his companion and a black 
gown (Father De Smet) were coming with a 
party of the Hudson Bay Fur company's 
men. Upon this announcement the 
chief ordered ten of his war- 
riors to proceed ahead without 
delay and conduct the missionary to the 
Flathead camp, the chief following with the 
whole tribe. Father DeSmet was met by 
the advance warriors near Green river, and 
under their guide he travelled on to the 
head waters of the Snake river, where he 
met the Flathead chief and his main camp 
of followers. The father remained at their 
camp some time, and satisfied himself of 
the earnestness and good disposition of the 
Indians, decided to go back to civilization 
to report to his superiors and ask for assist- 
ance. He iraveled with the Indian camp to 
the three forks of the Missouri, and from 
thence he was guided by a few warriors to 
the next trading post, and from thence the 
intrepid missionary made his way back to 

St. Louis. 

37 



I 















Sims 






In the spring of 1841, Father De Smet and 
three brothers of the Society of Jesus, and 
two fathers of the same order, returned to 
the wilds of the Rocky mountains. The six 
were of divers nationalities. Father De 
Smet and two of the lay brothers were 
Flemish; the other two fathers belonged one 
to Italy, the other to France. The third 
brother was a Frenchman. This band of 
missionaries traveled from St. Louis over- 
land, accompanied by a hunter named John 
Gray, who was married to an Indian woman, 
two Canadians and an Irishman named 
Fitzpatrick, acting as guide, and driving 
four carts and a wagon. With railroads now 
sweeping acr.ss the vast prairies of Dakota, 
Nebraska, and through the wild gorges of 
the Rocky mountains into Montana, few 
can appreciate the boldness and 
trepidity of this little band of Catholic 
missionaries, who, leaving civilization 
behind, plunged into a pathless wilderness 
and journeyed thousands of miles through 
the country of hostile savages, some of 
whom never before beheld the face of a 
white man. It was a long, tedious and dan- 
gerous trip, but having been undertaken for 
the charitable and supernatural motive of 
civilizing and christianizing the savages of 
the forests of the Rocky Mountains, all dif- 
ficulties were overcome, all dangers over- 
looked and all fatigues joyfully borne. 

When near Fort Bridger the travelers sent 
their hunter, John Gray, ahead, who met 
ten lodges of Indians and trappers, and told 
them that the imporiaries were coming, and 
besought them to go and meet them. The 
Indians and himters started toward Green 
river and after three days traveling, while 

camped about five miles from Green river, 

28 






isimm 












mmM 



MMm 



MMM 












m 



another messenger arrived at the camp 
and announced to them that Father 
DeSmet, with his companions, would 
arrive next day, and requested that the chief 
trapper, Gabriel Pradhomme, and an Iro- 
quois Indian, who was in the camp, sliould 
go that same evening to meet the toil worn 
missionaries. On the next day the traveling 
party were conducted to the hunter's camp, 
where they were welcomed with that roueh 
enthusiasm and rude hospitality born of the 
forest. Having rested and refreshed them- 
selves, two of the hunters volunteered to go 
and find the Flathead camp, and get fresh 
horses to carry the fathers' baggage and pro- 
visions, their stock being worn out. In the 
meantime the missionaries, being almost out 
of provisions. Father De Smet. with an Iro- 
quois Indian, started for Fort Hall, on Snake 
rivei, and the other missionaries and the ten 
lodges followed them slowly. At Fort Hall 
they were, after a few days, joined by Gabriel 
Pradhomme, who with some young Indians 
had driven in fresh horses for the fathers 
use. The whole party then started from 
Fo Wall tc meet the Flathead Indians, and 
they were found at the head of Beaverhead 
river, the largest tributary of the head- 
waters of the Missouri, and sweeps through 
a portion of what is now known as Beaver- 
head county, in Montana territory. The 
Indians received the Catholic fathers with 
every mark of respect and gratitude, and 
after remaining in camp for a few days they 
divided, some lodges accompanying the mis- 
sionaries to the Bitter Root valley and the 
other Indians went in for their annual 
buffalo hunt to the Musselshell river and 
the Judith basin, promising to be back to 

the Bitter Root valley in the fall. Traveling 
29 



em 



fsjip5ipp7is]m[«5i[ajmsiraims]fs«g 



isiMymJS 



WJ 






Si 









with the Flathead Indians the missionaries 
did not lose their time, but applied them- 
selves to the acquirement of the Indian lan- 
guage. 

Arriving at Bitter Root valley in Septem- 
ber, 1841, they set at work to instruct the 
Indians, whom they found so well disposed, 
to embrace the Catholic faith. A church 
was erected and also a few rude log huts for 
the accommodation of the missionaries. 
This first settlement was built on the banks 
of the Bitter Root river, just south wes' of 
Fort Owen, where Stevensville now stands, 
which never was a military post, but was 
built and used as an Indian trading post 
after the settlement of the missionaries, by 
Major Owen. 

In the meanwhile Father De Smet, with 
the same Iriquois Indians who accompanied 
him on his wearisome journey from St. 
Louis, and Francois Lumpre, a Canadian 
Frenchman, who at this date is still living 
in the Bitter Root valley, and has a farm 
about two miles west of the town ot Stevens- 
ville, so called after Governor Stevens, who 
made a treaty with the Flathead In- 
dians, started for Fort Colville, situated 
on the Columbia river, and now in Wash- 
ington territory, where the English Hudson 
Bay company had a trading post, and at 
that time all the vast territory from the Co- 
lumbia to Fort Hall on Snake river, now 
braced in the territories of Washington, 
Montana and Idaho, was claimed by that 
company as their territory and lying in 
British possessions. But the international 
boundary survey, several years afterwards, 
settled the question by giving the territory 
then in dispute to the United States. Father 

De Smet and his comnanies set out on this 
'30 



m 



m 



i 






























long journey of over three hundred 
miles from the Bitter Root valley to the 
trading post on the Columbia, through a 
savage Indian country, untrodden save by 
Indians and trappers in the employ of the 
Hudson Bay company and American Fur 
company, to buy seed for the Indians and 
missionaries to sow the following spring in 
the Bitter Root valley. 

The Flathead Indians faithful to 
their promise came back from their summer 
hunt in the fall. On the 3d day of December, 
1841, about one-third of the Flathead tribe 
were baptized into the Catholic faith, and 
the others who were under religious instruc- 
tions were received into the fold on Christ- 
mas day of that same year. So in a short 
space of time a new Christianity — the Flat- 
head tribe at that time numbering about one 
thou,sand — was founded, and the mission- 
aries were well pleased with the fervor of 
their new converts. The mission was called 
St. Mary's, as was called the river, and tho 
towering snow clad peak in the range ot/po- 
site the mission. 

The following spring of 1842 the fathers 
sowed the first grain brought to the Bitter 
Root valley, by Father De Smet from Fort 
Colville, and planted some potatoes. The 
first year the crop of both yielded rich, to 
the great enjoyment and delight of the In- 
dians, who learned for the first time how to 
till the soil and force it to yield a manifold 
crop. 

Although the missionaries now had wheat 

they had no mill to grind it, so they were 

obliged for the first years either to boil the 

wheat or to pound it with rocks, and be 

satisfied with the bread made out of that 

coarse flour. Their principal food was 
31 



fSJMlSl 



T'V^.r 



B^^^ 



siMieJisiMia 



fmr;^i5l fSJ^^isi fSi^Misi 



m 



mmm 



isimmMMm 





















Wj 



Iniffalo meat, which they procured from the 
Indians, and there were many times when 
they were glad to share the Indian roots and 
camas. Under the direction of the fathers, 
a feiv Indians built log houses close to the 
mission buildings. To protect themselves 
from the Blackfeet Indians, who at that 
time were coming into the valley in small 
war parties to steal horses and kill if an op- 
portunity offered itself, the fathers had a 
palisade built around the premises, forming 
a large yard, where in time of 
daD8;er the Indians were allowed 
to drive their horses at night 
and guard them. Twice a year it was the 
custom among the Indians to go a long dis- 
tance hunting buffalo, leaving at home only 
the old people and children; at such times 
the danger was very great, and the fathers 
had to guard against surprise. At the com- 
mencement of the mission one of the fath- 
ers accompanied the hunters in their excur- 
sions, when they went out in a body, but 
they soon found this to be impracticable, 
and had to give up the good they could 
have done by following the camp, chiefly in 
instructing the Indian children at the mis- 
sion. To follow the war and hunting par- 
ties of the Flatheads was a delicate position 
for the fathers; because, in case of any war 
with their enemies, and having taken pris- 
oners, through deference to the father, the 
warriors would appeal for his advice as to 
how to deal with them and natur- 
ally his advice would incline to 
mercy, a quality seldom or never shown 
by an Indian to an enemy, and any exhibi- 
tion of humanity towards a prisoner would 
give them the suspicion that the father was 

a friend of their enemy. Besides, the wild 
32 






\s\Mm 



SlMMi 










FATHER RAVALLI. 












excitement of the buffalo Hunt reigned su- 
preme in the Indian camp while on their 
hunting grounds, and very little room was 
left in their light and giddy heads for the 
dry lessons of the gospel. For this reason 
the fathers had to content themselves in- 
structing the Indians when they could gather 
them at the mission. 

In the spring of 1842 Father De Smet went 
to Europe to ask for more missionaries and 
for material aid, and in the fall of that year 
the French father, with a lay brother, was 
sent from Bitter Root to found the Cojur 
d'Alene mission, in the Cceitr d'Alene moun- 
tains, and for some time there was only one 
father left among the Flatheads, Father 
Menjarini, who is now living and stationed 
at Santa Clara college, California. 

But in the spring of 1843 there came to St. 
Mary's from St. Louis two more fathers and 
three lay brothers, but one of them. Father 
Heken, started in the fall of the same year 
with a brother for the new mission among 
the Coeur d'Alenes, and was sent from there 
the next spring to open another mission 
among the lower Pen d'Oreilles. Meanwliile 
Father DeSmet was not idle. In his voyage 
to Europe ne had obtained from the superior 
of the society three Italian fathers, among 
whom Father Anthony Ravalli, that won- 
derful man, who died at the St. Mary's mis- 
sion, Stevensville, Missoula county, Mon- 
tana, on the 2d day of , 1884, in the 
73d year of his age. The pen of the histor- 
ian and biographer, the brush of the artist, 
and the chisel of the sculptor have already 
combined to preserve his blessed memory 
for all time, emblazoned in history, in poetry 
and romance and preserved in imperishable 

marble. 

?, 33 



m 



mi 






JlialSsJ 


















fSJv^vlS" 



151^^1^ 



The three Italian fathers, including Father 
Ravalli, in company with Father De Smet, 
two lay brotherd from Belgium and six 
sisters from Notre Dame, embarked at Ames 
in a Norwegian vessel. Rounding Cape 
Horn, they touched Valparaiso and Callao, 
crossed the treacherous bar at the mouth of 
the Columbia, July 31st, 1844, and on the 
next day landed at Fort Vancouver, whence 
after a few days' rest they ascended to St. 
Paul's prairie, on the Willammette. The 
great city of Portland, Oregon, was then al- 
most a wilderness. In the spring of 1845, 
Father Ravalli was sent ami;ng the Kalis- 
pels, or Pend d'Oreilles, where he learned 
the wonderful secret of living- without the 
necessaries of life, as the other fathers who 
preceded him had been doing. The father's 
bill of fare was principally dried buf- 
falo meat and roots and berries. 
The acquisition of Father Ravalli 
at St. Mary's mission was a boon, and 
a blessing as he had studied medicine under 
some of the ablest physicians of Rome; and 
making himself an apprentice also in the 
artist's studio and mechanic's shop, he 
could handle witn skill the chisel and brush 
of the artist as well as the tools and imple- 
ments of almost every trade. It was princi- 
pally to his skillfulness that the first grist 
mill and sawmill was put up in Montana, 
and run by water power. Father De Smet 
brought with him from Belgium two fif- 
teen-inch millstones, which were intended 
to be worked by hand power but water was 
utilized and a saw and gristmill was set in 
motion, the machinery of which having 
been constructed out of old wagon tires, and 
the saw was made out of an old pit saw by 

filing to the proper shape the teeth. The 
34 









i 












\smM 





















capacity of the gristmill was about eight 
bushels a day. The process was slow, but 
bread could now be made from the wheat 
raised by the missionaries and the Indians. 
Everything was now in a flourishing con- 
dition al St. Mary's mission, and the good 
fathers were beginning to congratulate 
themselves upon the success of their great 
and fearless undertaking, until the evil in- 
fluence and jealousies of the trappers and 
traders in furs, who followed the Indian 
hunting parties and haunted their settle- 
ments and villages, began to make itself felt. 
Those men —licentious, immoral and impure 
generally, who accepted from the great fur 
companies of the west, situations as trap- 
pess, hunters, etc., lead wild and desolate 
lives, and in their career of debauchery 
among the simple natives.brooked no oppo- 
sition, and looked with jealous eyes upon 
the missionaries' teachings of Christianity 
and virtue, and in the councils of the Indi- 
ans began to sow the seed of discontent 
against the missionaries for the new order 
of things, which deprived the christianized 
Indian from as many wives as he choose to 
take and in prohibiting debauchery of the 
Indian women by those lewd camp 
followers. The talk of the trappers 
against the missionaries began to give trouble 
and the Indians when leaving the Bitter 
Root valley on their annual buffalo hunt, 
left the fathers without any protection 
against the incursions of hostile tribes, par- 
ticularly the Blackfeet, who took every ad- 
vantage to harrass, murder and annoy the 
Flatheads and the missionaries of St. Mary's. 
Left without such protection, the Blackfeet, 
once at the very door of the mission, killed 
a half-breed boy who worked for the fathers. 
35 



m 

i 



m 



m 



©) 



i 



EKfmJ 


















Being thus harrassed and annoyed, in the 
spring of 1850, Father Mengarim went down 
to Willamette to consult with the superior 
of the missions. This consultation resulted 
in an order from the superior to abandon St. 
Mary's mission for an indefinite period, 
hence the intrepid Father Joset was sent up 
by the superior from Cour d' Alene mission, 
with an escort of christianized Indians to re- 
move the mission and the effects of the mis- 
sionaries. St. Mary's mission at that 
time occupied the actual site of Fort 
Owen. Major Owen, one of the his- 
oric characters of the first 

•white settlers of Mantana arrived upon the 
scene, and to him Father Joset sold for a 
small consideration all the improvements of 
the mission, on condition as stated by that 
missionarie, that if in three years the com- 
munity would come back, as was their in 
tention, they could redeem their property. 
The intrepit Father Joset, with that great 
and good man. Father Ravalli, a brother 
and some Indians, driving four wagons, 
three cows and sixteen yoke of cattle, 
started for their destination. Major Owen, 
left in possession of the property of the 
fathers, began to build the actual fort, sub- 
stituting the adobe which which now stand 
to the stockade. At Hellgate, just below the 
present site of Missoula, the missionaries 
divided. Father Ravalli going by the Cffiur 
d' Alene trail, now known as the Mullen 
road, and Father Joset with all the baggage 
went by the Jocko valley, having been or- 
dered to go down by the Pendd'Oreille river; 
he wintered that year with his party 
below the mouth of the Jocko, on the Pend 
d'Oreille river, near the site of Antoine 
Revis' present home. Assisted by the In- 















|gniw.rra; 



I51>i^ 



SIMM 












dians, among whom was the chief Victor, 
fatlier of the present Chief Charles of the 
Bitter Root Flatheads, who accompanied 
Father Joset on his journey, he set to work to 
build five large, flat bottomed boats to con- 
vey their baggage down the treacherous and 
turbulent Pend d' Oreille river. It was a 
bold and, it must be said, an unwise plan; 
but the determined missionary in the spring 
of the next year launched his boats and 
committed himself, baggage and party to 
the rushing waters of that swift and rapid 
river, but the voyagers were destined to 
wreck a raft near Horse Plains before they 
proceeded over sixty miles of their journey, 
upon which was loaded their wagons, hand 
cars and other property; then at Thompson 
Falls, a few miles further down the river, 
two of the boats were wrecked and all the 
cargo lost. Fortunately no lives were Io8t, 
and after a long journey through the 
wilderness, the worn wander- 

ers arrived at their destination 
It was not until the fall of 1854 that the 
missionaries came back; but instead of re- 
establishing St. Mary's mission again in the 
Bitter Root valley they opened St. Ignatius 
mission, that now flourishing institution on 
the Flathead reservation. The location of 
the mission established among the lower 
Calispels or Pend d'Oreilles in 1844, on 
Clark's fork of the Columbia, was found 
unfit for a mission because of the scarcity of 
arable land and also because of the extensive 
floods which inundated the country in the 
spring of the year. Determined to abandon 
that place, and looking for a location where 
they could have more land, and where they 
could gather both the lower and upper 

Calispels, they chose the actual site of St. 
37 









mMM 









SIMM 




Ignatius, where it now stands, a monument 
to tbe sagacity and forethought of those 
fathers. By such choice it was thought the 
central position among the different tribes 
would concentrate them around St Ig- 
natius, and that the Flatheads would 
forsake the Bitter Root valley for a home 
near the new mission, and settle down 
among the Calispels, as the tribes spoke the 
same language and were allied and related 
by intermarriage. The founders of St. Igna- 
tius mission were Father Hoken and Father 
Minetry, the latter a venerable Jesuit and at 
this date the parish priest of Missoula. In 
the spring of 1855, for the Easter festival, 
there was gathered at the new mission of St. 
Ignatius not less than one thousand Indians 
of mixed tribes — Calispels, Flatheads, Nez 
Perces and Kootenais, and of whom one 
hundred and fifty adults were baptized on 
Christmas day of that year. 

Very few of the Flatheads left the Bitter 
Root valley to settle on the Jocko reserva- 
tion, and it was decided to attend to their 
spiritual wants by again re-establishing St. 
Mary's mission at its original locality. In the 
fall of 1866 Father Geordi, s. j., with a lay 
brother was sent to Bitter Root to re-open 
the mission and re-established it at its pres- 
ent locality. In 1864, before the return of 
Father Geordi to St. Mary's, two other mis- 
sionary staticns were established in the 
neighborhood of Missoula, one near French- 
town and the other at Hell Gate. 

In 1867 Father Ravalli, who, after passing 
some time at St. Peter's mission, on Sun 
River in the Blackfoot country, where, 
owing to his great surgical skill and tender 
nursing, many a poor frost bitten miner 
owed to him life and limb that were over- 



1 



P 
I 



i 



Dn'.W.fn]||ci-|.W 





> 

o 

z 

UJ 

o 
< 

< 

lU 

I 
I- 
< 



mmM 















taken in the great storm which prevailed 
during the famous stampede from Helena 
to Sun river, was ordered again to St. Mary's. 
Montana nov having become settled up to 
some extent by miners who flocked from 
east and west to her rich gold fields, Father 
Eavalli, besides attending to the Indians 
with Father Geordi, was kept constantly 
travelling from one mining camp to another 
in both capacities of priest and physician, 
attending to the spiritual wants of Catholic 
miners as well as aleviating the suffering of 
sick and friendless men and women who 
followed the gold excitement to the then 
wilds of the Rocky mountains, with his 
wonderful medical skill. Tliere were 
at that time very few physicians in 
the country, and a great many 
accidents were constantly occurring in the 
mines as well as from fights and shooting 
scrapes among the wild and lawless. A 
large majority of those people had no means 
to pay a doctors fee; and often Father Ra- 
valli was summoned from his quiet retreat 
at the mission of St. Mary's to ride to dis- 
tant mining camps — perhaps two hundred 
miles away — to extract the bullets from the 
wounds of a desparado, to set limbs of an 
unfortunate miner caught in a "drift;" to 
sooth the sick bed of a helpless woman or 
her children; or to administer the last sacra- 
ment to a dying Catholic. The good father 
never refused his help to any man. to what- 
ever color, nation or denomination he might 
belong, and always obeyed a call either from 
rich or poor no matter what the distance, 
how rugged the trail or how dangerous the 
undertaking. For this reason and for the 
great success he had in his medical practice, 

and for his amiable, genial and attractive 
39 



« 



m 






mmm 



Mmm 









manners lie became very popular among all 
classes. The miners particularly noting his 
disinterestedness showed themselves very 
generous toward him, and by those means 
he was the principal support of St. Mary's 
mission. 

In 1869 Father Georda having been 
elected provincinal or superior general of 
all the Jesuite missions io the Rocky moun- 
tains, and being obliged to visit them, 
Father D'Astie. S. J., took his place in the 
Bitter Root at St. Mary's, and with Father 
Ravalli attended to the spiritual wants of 
the Flathead Indians. That great and good 
man, Father Ravalli, has passed away; but 
Father D'Astie still survives, and today is 
at his post at St. Ignatius mission, minister- 
ing to the wants and guiding the remnant 
of that once great tribe of Flatheads, as 
well as the Kootenais and Pend d'Oreilles, 
in the ways of religion, civilization and 
morality. How beautiful is the faith which 
produces those valorous missionaries I 
Armed with the sole standard of the cross, 
with no other compass than obedience, they 
run fearlessly to their goal, which is the at- 
tainment of God's great glory by the salva- 
tion of souls. They wait but for the oppor- 
tunity of saving souls, to fly to unexplored 
countries, to ever-growing danger of death. 
Strangers to the wealth, the honors, the 
pleasures of this world, disinterested in all 
their undertakings, they take no other con- 
solation amid infuriated waves, in frightftil 
solitudes, in the primeval forest, than that 

of passing through them to do good. 
40 



a 


















The Advanced Ideas In Which Explorer 
Clarke Found the Flatheads. 



The new state of Montana, as well as the 
United States government, should not forget 
that they owe a debt of gratitude to the 
Flathead Indians for the friendly welcome 
extended to the early explorers and pioneers 
of this country, which is attested to by 
Lewis and Clarke in their official reports to 
President Jefferson and published so widely 
both in America and Europe. Captains 
Clarke and Lewis, with their followers, as 
before mentioned, were the first white men 
the Fathead Indians ever beheld. At the 
date of this writing, May 1890, there still 
lives at St. Ignatius mission, on the Flat- 
head reservation, an old Indian woman 
named Ochanee, who distinctly remembers, 
and relates in the Indian language 
the advent of those two great' 
captains, with their followers, into the Flat- * 
head camp in the Bitter Root valley, and 
the great astonishment it created among the 
Indians. The explorers crossed over the 
Big Hole mountains and arrived at the 
Flathead camp in the Bitter Root valley in 
the year 1804. Ochanee claims to have been 
about 13 years of age at that date. She is a 
lively old woman, and still has all of her 
mental faculties, and can describe camps, 
scenes and events which are vividly por- 
trayed in the published reports of Lewis and 
Clarke descriptive of the 

FLATHEAD AND NEZ PERCES INDIANS, 

who were then hunting and camping to- 
gether. During the stay of the explorers in 
the Flathead camp Captain Clarke took 
unto himself a Flathead woman. One son was 

the result of this union, and he was baptised 

41 






fssisifmjms 



I® 

m 



m 






EiMja 



BImMj 









[SJMlSlfSJ^lSl 



LsiMja 



i 



after the missionaries came to Bitter Root 
valley and named Peteter Clarke. This half- 
breed lived to a ripe age, and was well known 
to many of Montana's early settlers. He 
died about six years ago and left a son, who 
was christened at St. Mary's mission to the 
name of Zachariah, and pronounced Sacalee 
by the Indians. The latter has a son three 
years of age, whom it is claimed by the In- 
dians, indirect decent, to be the great grand- 
son of the renowned Captain Clarke. 

Explorations from the Mississippi to the 
Pacific ocean, page 308, Lieutenant Mullan, 
of the United States army, so widely known 
in Montana, and after whom the name is 
given to the Mullan tunnel, near Helena on 
the Northern Pacific railroad, sent with 
Governor Stevens to explore the Bitter Root 
valley, rendered the following 

TRIBUTE OF ADMIRATION 

to the Flalheads. The lines are drawn from 
the report published at the time by order of 
the government. Captain Mullen is now a 
resident of Washington, D. C, but occasion- 
ally comes to Montana to renew old ac- 
quaintanceship among the Indians he de- 
scribes, and pioneers of his expedition, who 
settled in Montana; notably among the lat- 
ter is Baron O'Keefe, David O'Keefe, and 
Ben Welch, of Missoula county. The re- 
port says: "When I arrived at the camp 
with my guide, three or four men came out 
to meet us, and we were invited to enter the 
lodge of the great chief. With much eager- 
ness they took care of our horses, unsaddled 
them and led them to drink. As soon as 
the camp had been informed of the arrival 
of a white wan among them all the princi- 
pal men of the tribe collected at the lodge of 
the chief. 



m 



m 



mi 



M 





















iM^^i^iSlX^g^ 















"All being assembled, at a signal given by 
the chief, 

THEY PRAYED ALOUD. 

I was struck with astonishment, for I had 
not the least expectation of such conduct on 
their part. The whole assembly knelt in 
the most solemn manner, and with the 
greatest reverence, they adored the Lord. I 
asked myself: Am I among Indians? Am 
I among people whom all the world call 
savages? I could scarcely believe my eyes. 
The thought that these men were penetrated 
with religious sentiments, so profound and 
beautiful overwhelmed me with amazement. 

"I could never say enough of those noble 
andgeneious hearts among whom I found 
myself. They were pious and firm, men of 
confidence, full of probity, and penetrated 
at the same time with a lively and 
religious faith, to which they re- 
main constant. They never partake 
a repast without imploring the blessing of 
heaven. In the morning when rising, and 
at night when retiring, they offer their pray- 
ers to Almighty God. The tribe of the Flat- 
heads among the Indians is the subject of 
their highest esteem,and all that I witnessed 
myself justifies this advantageous opinion." 

Here is another testimony from the Hon. 
Isaac J. Stej^bens, ex-governor of Washing- 
ton territoi'y', who made the Flathead treaty 
in 1855, at Grass Valley, a few miles below 
the city of Missoula, and 

WHO WAS AFTERWARDS KILLED 

in sight of the city of Washington fighting 

bravely for the union. Giving orders to 

Lieutenant Mullan, he says: 

■'Tell those good Flatheads that the words 

of Father De Smet, in their behalf, have 

been received by their great father 
43 



m 



^1 



I 
























MmM 






the president of the United States, and that 
all good people are devoted to them. I 
would like to rebuild St. Mary's. Let them 
know I am attached to tliem, and ready to 
aid their old benefactors in their well being. 
This would be most pleasing to me." 

Governor Stevens also wrote to the Indian 
agent then in charge: "You are already 
aware of the character of the Flatheads. 
They are the best Indians of the mountains 
and plains — honest, brave, and docile; they 
only need encouragement to become good 
citizens — they are christians, and we are as- 
sured that they live up to the christian code." 

This message is from the report 
to the president in 1854, and 
from the pen of that gifted soldier and 
statesman, who afterward made the Flat- 
head treaty, and as stated before died for the 
preservation of the union. 

THE ELECTION OF CHIEF VICTOR. 

/ The chief who preceded the great Victor, 
father of the present chief Chariot, had the 
euphonious Indian name, Etsowish Semme- 
gee-itshin, "The Grizzly Bear Erect," but 
was baptized Loyolo, by Father DeSmet. 
This chieftain died, on the 6th of April, 
ls64, and was lamented by the Indians with 
tokens of sincere grief. As the departed 
chief, contrary, so Indian custom, had not 
designatea his successor, a new chief was to 
be chosen after his death. The election 
ended in an almost unanimous voice for 
Victor, a brave huater, remark- 
able for the generosity of his 
disposition. The inauguration took place 
amid great feasting and rejoicing. All the 
warriors, in their gala costumes, marched to 
his wigwam, and ranging themselves around 
it, discharged their muskets, after which 






f^KlSl'Sf^a^ 



[CT].v^.frO||[}^.^.f?j| 



fliSSl 



mmm 



\5\MM\SmM 






iGTi.^.rpJi'iGTi.w.rTii! 






amis' 









each one went up to him to pledge his affec- 
tion to a hearty shaking of hands. During 
the whole day numerous parties came to ex- 
press to the missionaries how much satisfac- 
tion they felt at having a chief whose good- 
ness had long since won their hearts. Victor 
alone seemed sad. He dreaded the respon- 
sibility of the chieftainship, and thought he 
should be unable to maintain the good 
effected in his tribe by his predecessor. 

TO BE A GOOD HUNTER 

and a good warrior are the two qualities 
par excellence that constitute a great 
man among the tribes. As both 
qualifications were combined inj the new 
chief, Victor, perhaps a description of the 
manner of conducting an Indian hunt in 
old days may not be uninteresting to the 
reader. 

Father DeSmet says the chase absorbs the 
whole attention of the Indian. The knowl- 
edge that he has acquired by long experi- 
ence of the nature and instincts of animals, 
is truly marvelous. He is occupied with it 
from earliest infancy. As soon as a child is 
capable of managiue a little bow, it is the 
first instrument his father puts into his 
hands to teach him how to hunt little birds 
and small animals. The young Indians are 
initiated in all their stratagems. They are 
taught with as much care how to approach 
aiid kill the animals as in civilized society a 
a youth is instructed in reading, writing and 
arithmetic. 

An expert Indian hunter is acquainted 
with the habits and instincts of all the 
quadrupeds which form the object of the 
chase. He knows their favorite haunts. It 
is essential for him to distinguish what kind 
of food an animal first seeks, and the most 



I 

m 









EiMia 






SIMS 















favorable moment of quitting his lair for 
procuring nourishment. The hunter must 
be 

FAMILIAR WITH ALL THE PRECAUTIONS 

that are necessary to elude the attentive ear 
and watchful instincts of nis intended vic- 
tims; he must appreciate the footstep lliat 
has passed him, the time that has elapsed 
since it passed, and the direction it has pur- 
sued. The atmosphere, the winds, ra n, 
snow, ice, forests and water are the books 
which the Indian reads, consults and ex- 
amines on leaving his hut in pursuit of 
game. 

In those days the tribes found their sub- 
sistence in the chase; the flesh of animals 
afforded them food and the skins clothing. 
Before the arrival of the whites, the method 
of killing the different species of animals 
was very simple, consisting ordinarily of 
strategems and snares. They still have re- 
course to primitive method in the hunt for 
large animals, when they have no horses 
capable of pursuing them and guns for kill- 
ing them are wanting. The trap prepared 
for the buffalo was an enclosure, or pen, and 
is one of she more early ways and perhaps 
the most remarkable for its execution; it 
demands skill, and gives a good idea of the 
sagacity, activity and boldness of the 
Indian. As on all other occasions 
of moment, the jugglers were consulted 
and the hunt was preceded by a great variety 
of superstitious practices. Father De Smet 
described one of these hunts 

NEAR THE JUDITH BASIN. 

The buffalo roamed the plains in bands of 
several hundreds, and often several thou- 
sands. He states that in his travels he had 

seen with his own eyes, as far as he could 

46 



IfSi^fl^ 



BMpipvi^ r^p;^;^ 



vm 



\s\mi^ 



\s\mm 



isi>i^^;^ 






L51>±fyM 















discern on these immense plains, thousands 
and thousands of these noble animals, mov- 
ing slowly, like an interminable troop, in 
one direction, and browsing the grass as 
they progressed. They had a fearful appear- 
ance; their hairy heads inspired with terror 
those who were ignorant of the pacific habits 
of this noble quadruped. When alarmed, 
the tramp of their hoofs, their bellowings, 
and the columns of dust which they raise, 
resemble the deep murmurs of a tempest 
mingled with peals of thunder, lessening as 

they grow more remote. 
47 









^i^^is] pmei pMsi fawisi 
eiMjsJ IsiSa IsiMisJ EiMra. 



famsifsipis] 












A Description of a Buflfalo Hunt By tlie 
Flatliead Indians. 



A tribe that had few guns, few horses to 
run down the animals which needs pursu- 
ing, and skins for clothing, were compelled 
to employ the old or primitive method of 
hunting, which existed from time immem- 
orial. The Indians described as engaged in 
this hunt were encamped in a suitable 
place for the construction of a park or en- 
closure. The camp described contained 
about three hundred lodges, which repre- 
sented 2,000 or 3,000 souls. They had se- 
lected the base of a chain of hills whose 
gentle slope presented a narrow valley and 
a prairie, in which all the lodges were 
ranged. Opposite the hills there was a fine 
large praiiie. 

After the construction of the lodges a 
great council is held, at which all the 
chiefs and all the hunters assist. They 
first choose a band of warriors to 
prevent the hunters from leaving the camp, 
either alone or in detached companies, lest 
the buffalo be disturbed, and thus be driven 
away from the encampment. The law 
against this was extremely severe, not only 
all the Indians of the camp must conform to 
it, but it reaches to all travelers even when 
they are ignorant of the encampment or do 
not know there is a hunt in contemplation. 
Should they frighten the animals they are 
all punishable; however, those of the camp 
are more rigorously chastised in case they 
transgress the regulation. Their guns, their 
bows and arrows are broken, their lodges 
cut in pieces, their dogs killed, all their pro- 
visions and their hides are taken from them. 

If they are bold enough to resist the penalty 

48 



i 


















IsiBaJ 















i 



they are beaten with bows, sticks and clubs. 
Any one who should set fire to the prairie 
by accident or imprudence, or in 
in any way frighten off the herd would be 
sure to be well beaten. 

As soon as the law is promulgated, the 
construction of the pen is commenced. 
Everybody labors at it with cheerful ardor, 
for it is an affair of common interest on 
which the subsistence of the entire tribe 
during several months will depend. The 
pen has an area of about an acre. To en- 
close it in a circular form stakes are firmly 
fixed in the ground and the distance between 
them filled with logs, dry boughs, masses 
of stone — in short with what 

even they can find that will answer the pur- 
pose. The circular palisade has but one 
opening; before this opening is a slope em- 
bracing fifteen or twenty feet between the 
hills. This inclined plain grows wider as it 
diverges from ihe circle; at its two sides they 
continue the fence to a long distance on the 
plain. As soon as these preparations aie 
completed, the Indians elect a grandmaster 
of ceremonies and of the pen. He is gener- 
ally an old man, a distinguished personage 
belonging to the Wah-Kon, or medicine 
band, and famous in the art of jugglery, 
which the Indians of those days deemed a 
supernatural science. His office is to decide 
the moment for driving the buffalo into the 
enclosure and give the siarnal for 
the commencement of the hunt. He 
plants the medicine mast in the 
center of the park, and attached to it the 
three charms which are to allure the ani- 
mals in that direction, viz: a streamer of 
scarlet cloth two or three yards long, a piece 

of tobacco and a buffalo's horn. Every 
4 49 



m 



m) 



m 

m 












Pm^ 
[51^^^/mJ 












morning at the early dawn he beats his 
drum, intones his hymns of conjuration, 
consults his own Wah Kon and the mani- 
tou's or guiding spirits of the bnffalos, in 
order to discover the favorable moment for 
the chase. The grand-maste-r has four run- 
ners at his disposal who go out daily and 
report to him the true result of their obser- 
vations; they tell at what distance from the 
camp the animals are, their probable num- 
ber, and in what direction the herd is march- 
ing. These runners frequently go forty or 
fifty miles in different dircotions. In 
all their courses they take with them 
a wak-kon ball, which is intrusted to them 
by the grand master. It is made of hair cov- 
ered with skin. When the mourners think 
that the suitable moment has arrived they 
immediately dispatch a man of their num- 
ber to the grand master with the ball and 
the good news. So long as the mysterious 
ball is absent the master of ceremonies can- 
not take food; he prolongs his vigorous fast 
by abstaining from every meat or dish that 
does not come from some animal killed on 
the area of the park, until the liunt is over; 
and as they often remain a month or more 
awaiting the must favorable moment of be- 
ginning, the grand master must find himself 
reduced to very small rations, unless he 
makes some arrangement with his con- 
science. It is probable that he eats stealthily 
at night, for he has no more appearance of 
fasting than his brethren of the camp. 

Let us now suppose all to be in readiness, 
and the circumstances all favorable to the 
hunt. The grand master of the camp beats 
his drum to announce that the buffalo are 
in numerous herds at about fifteen or twenty 

miles distance. The wind is favorable, and 
50 









WMSl 



F^m-M 






m 






Ei^is 



mmm 












comes directly from the point in which the 
animals are. Immediately all the horsemen 
mount their ponies; the footmen armed 
with bows, guns and lances, take their posi- 
tions, forming two long, oblique diverging 
rows from the extremity of the two barriers 
which sprmg from the entrance of the pen 
and extend into the plain, and thus fold- 
ing the lines of the enclosure. When 
the footmen are placed at distances of ten or 
fifteen feet, the horsemen continue the same 
lines, which separate in proportion as they 
extend, so tliat the last hunter on horseback 
is found at about two or three miles distance 
from the pen and at very nearly the same 
distance from the last hunter of the other 
line in an opposite direction. When men 
are wanting, women and even children, oc- 
cupy stations. After the formation of these 
two immense lines, one single Indian, un- 
armed, is sent on the best horse in the camp 
in the direction of the buffaloes to meet 
them. He approaches against the wind and 
with the greatest precaution. At the dis- 
tance of about one hundred paces 
he envelopes himself in a buffalo 
hide, the fur turned outside, and 
also envelopes his horse as much as possible 
in the same manner, and then makes a 
plaintive cry in imitation of that of a buffalo 
calf. As if by enchantment, this cry at- 
tracts the attention of the whole herd. 
After some seconds several thousands of 
these quadrupeds, hearing the pitiful plaint, 
turn towards the pretended calf. At first 
thes' move slowly, then advance into a trot, 
and at last they push forward in full gallop. 
The horseman continually repeats the cry 
of the calf, and takes his course towards the 

pen, ever attentive to keep at the same dis- 
51 



fW\ 



m 















tance from the animals that are following 
him. By this stratagem he leads the vast 
herd of buifalo through the whole distance 
that separate him from his companions, 
who are on the qui vive, full of ardor and 
impatience to share with him in his sport. 

When the buffaloes arrive in the space be- 
tween the extremities of the two lines, the 
scene changes. The hunters on horseback 
giving rein to their stock rejoin each other 
behind the animals. At once the scent of 
the hunters is communicated among the 
frightened and routed animals which at- 
tempt to escape in every direction. Then 
those on foot appear. The buffalo, . finding 
themselves surrounded and enclosed on all 
sides, accept the single opening into the cir- 
cular opening before them, low and bellow 
in the most frightful manner and plunge 
into it with the speed and fear of despera- 
tion. The lines of hunters close in gradu- 
ally, and space becomes less necessary as the 
mass of buftalo and groups of hunters 
become more and more compact. Then the 
Indians commence firing their guns, draw- 
ing their arrows and flinging their lances. 
Many animals fall under the blows before 
gaining the pen; the greater number, how- 
ever enter. They discover only to late the 
snare that has been laid for them. Those in 
front try to return, but the terrified crowd 
that follow force them to go forward, and 
they cast themselves in confusion into the 
enclosure amid the hurrahs and joyful 
shouts of the whole tribe, intermingled 
with the firing of guns. As soon as all are 
penned the buffalo are killed with arrows, 
lances and knives. Men, women and chil- 
dren, in an excitement of joy, take part in 

general butchery and the flaying and cutting 
52 









m. 



[^Jy^WISI 



ISlMfSJ 









Elvira 












up of the animals. To look 
at them without disgust in this 
operation, one must have been a little 
habituated to their customs and manners. 
While men cut and slash the flesh, the 
women, and children in particular, devour 
the meat still warm with life — the livers, 
kidneys, brains, etc., seem irresistible at- 
tractions. They smear their faces, hair, 
arms and legs with the blood of the buffalo. 
Confused cries, clamerous shouts, and here 
and there quarrels fill up the scene. It is a 
picturesque and savage scene — a very pan- 
demonium — a sight very difficult to despict 
by words or to recount in minute details. 
In the hunt described, and at which Father 
DeTruit was present, six hundred buffalo 
were killed. After the butchery the skins 
and flesh are separated into piles, and these 
piles are divided among the families in pro- 
portion of the number of which they are 
composed. The meat is afterwards cut in 
slices and dried; the bones are bruised and 
their grease extracted. The dogs also re- 
ceive their portion of the feast and devour 
the remainder in the nrcna of the pen. Two 
days after the hunt not a vestige of the car 
nage remained. Before separating the In- 
dians pass several days in dancing and 
mirth. 






® 



mmmmmsi 



\s\mM 






mi 






^jmS] famS] fSKl^ P^l^ pmSI 

isiMMj Isiffl^ isiS^ ieiSmJ IsSis 



The Treaty Which Chief Chariot Swears 
He Never Signed. 



On the Cth day of September, 1883, there 
arrived al the Flathead agency United States 
Senator George G. Vest, of Missouri, and 
Major Martin Maginnis, territorial represen- 
tative from Montana, being the sub-com- 
mittee of the special committee of the United 
States senate appointed to visit the Indian 
tribes in northern Montana. The co nmittee 
were accompanied by Schuyler Crosby, gov- 
ernor of Montana, and were met at Arlee, 
the railway station, by the United States In- 
dian agent and several hundred Indians. I 
quote from the official report of said com- 
mittee: 

The scene at the station as we 
left the train was very picturesque 
and interestiog. Some Sve hundred 
Chinamen, lately engaged in the construc- 
tioD of the Northern Pacific railroad, were 
encamped near the station, and their sallow 
countenances exhibited unmistakable evi- 
dences of apprehension as the Indians ex- 
tended us a welcome m one of their charac- 
teristic dances, accompanied by a good deal 
of noise and much reckless riding on their 
ponies around the Chinese camp. Sur- 
rounded by this wild but hospitable escort, 
we proceeded to the agency, and upon the 
following day met the Indians in council, 
the tribes on the reservation being repre- 
sented by Michel, head chief of the Pen d' 
Orcilles; Arlee, second chief of Flatheads, 
and Eneas, head chief of the Kootenais." 

A full account of the proceedings of said 
council will be found in the official 
report ot Senator H. L. Dawes, of Massa- 
chusetts, chairman of the special commit- 



slJ^Ej^jBiMm 












tee of the senate of the United States 
to inquire iuto the condition of Sioux In- 
dians on their reservation, and also to in- 
quire into the grievances of the Indians in 
Montana territory. As this chapter is only- 
intended to present the status of Chariot's 
band of Bitter Root Flathead Indians, I 
shall only touch upon that subject. 

After holding council with the confeder- 
ated tribes of Indians on the Flathead reser- 
vation, the sub committee proceeded from 
the reservation to hold a council with Char- 
lot, head and heriditary chief of the Flat- 
heads, and arrived at Stevensville, in the 
Bitter Root valley, on September 10, 1883. 
The official report says: On the morning 
after our arrival we visited St. Mary's mis- 
sion in the suburbs of Stevensville, and 
learned much about the condition of Chariot 
and his band from the Jesuit fathers. Father 
Ravalli who has been among them for fifty 
three years, has been partially paralyzed for 
more than five years and unable 
to leave his bed, but his intellect 
is vigorous and his cheerfulness 
most astonishing. Lying in his little 
room with his crucifix and books, he pre- 
scribes for the sick, and even performs dif- 
ficult surgical operations, for he is a most 
accomplished physician and surgeon. This 
remarkable man was the trusted friend and 
companion of Father DeSmet, and he is 
probably better acquainted with the differ- 
ent Indian iribes of the west, their lan- 
guage, habits and superstitions than any 
one living man." 

This great and good man has gone to his 

reward since Senator Vest's report was 

written. 

"After an interesting conversation with 
55 



fmimsi [Sf^is] fsimsi 
IsiMisJ iM^raJ BMraJ 



i 



Father Ravalli of two hours, the arrival ol 
Chariot, head chief of the Flatheads. and 
five of his principal men, was announced, 
and an equal number ot whites being pres- 
ent we entered upon an interview, which 
at times was very dramatic and even stormy. 

Chariot is an Indian of fine appearance 
and impressed us a brave and honest man. 
That he has been badly treated is unques- 
tionable, and the history of the negotiation 
which culminated in the division of his 
tribe, part of them under Arlee, the second 
chief, being now on the Jocko reservation, 
and part still in the Bitter Root valley with 
Chariot, is, to say the least, remarkable. 

In report of the commissioner of Indian 
affairs for the year 1872, pages 109, 110, 111, 
112, 113, 114, 115, 116 and 117, will be found 
this history, and in exhibit B, herewith 
filed, will be found a communication from 
Major Ronan to the commissioner of Indian 
affairs, in which the main facts are clearly 
stated. 

In 1855 a treaty was made between the 
United States, represented by Governor 
Stevens and Victor, chief of the Flaiheads 
and father of Chariot, known as the Hell 
Gate treaty. By this treaty a very large ter- 
ritory, extending from near the forty-second 
parallel to the British line, and with an 
average breadth of nearly two degrees of 
latitude, was ceded to the government: and 
on yielding it, Victor insisted upon holding 
the Bitter Root valley above the Lo Lo Fork, 
as a special reservation for the Flathead 
people. 

By the 9th and 11th articles of the treaty, 
the president was empowered to determine 
whether the Flatheads should remain in the 
Bitter Root valley or go to the Jocko reser- 



I 



[^ 



m 






1 



i 



m 



Ml PMI^ POT^ Pml^ PMlisl PM^ f^lv^ 
M. CTi.W.ra ra.W.ra u^S^jTU Ui]^m cnW.ra m^. 






vation, and the president was required to 
have the Bitter Root valley surveyed and ex- 
amined in order to determine this question. 

Up to the time of General Garfield's visit 
in 1872, seventeen years afterwards, no sur- 
vey was made as the Indians claim, nor 
were any schoolmasters, blacksmiths, car- 
penters or farmers sent to the tribe, as pro- 
vided for in the treaty. 

In the meantime the Bitter Root valley, 
by far the most beautiful and productive in 
Montana, was being filled up by the whites, 
and on November 14, 1871, the president 
issued an order declaring that the Indians 
should be removed to the Jocko reservation, 
and on June 5, 1872, congress passed a bill 
appropriating $50,000 to pay the expense of 
this removal, and to pay the Indians for the 
loss of their improvements in the Bitter Root 
valley. 

This order the Indians refused to obey, 
and serious apprehensions of trouble be- 
tween them and the white settlers caused 
the appointment by the secretary of the in- 
terior of General Garfield as special commis- 
sioner to visit the Flatheads and secure, if 
possible, their peaceful removal to the Jocko 
reservation. 

General Garfield states in his report that 
he found the Indians opposed to leaving the 
Bitter Root valley, for the reason that the 
government had for seventeen years failed 
to carry out the treaty of 1855, and that no 
steps had been taken towards surveying and 
examining the Bitter Root valley, as pro- 
vided in the treaty. On August 27, 1872, he 
drew up an agreement which reads as 
follows: 

Flathead Reservation, August 27, 1872. — 

Articles of agreement made this 27th day of 
67 



vmi 



m^ 



w^ 



\(^) 









m 



'M) 



m 












siMiaj 






BiMjmj 



m 



lsl>^^ja 



i^iMra 















August, 1872, between James A. Garfield, 
special commissioner, authorized by the sec- 
retary of the interior to carry into execution 
the provisions of the act approved June a, 
1872, for the removal of the Flathead and 
other Indians from the Bitter Root valley. 
of the first part, and Chariot, first chief, 
Arlee, second chief, and Adolph, third cliiff 
of the Flatheads, of the second part, wit- 
nesseth: 

Whereas, it was provided in the eleventh 
article of the treaty concluded at Hell Gate, 
July 15. 1855, and approved by the senate 
March 8, 1859, between the United States 
and the Flatheads, Kootenai and Teiid 
d'Oreille Indians that the president sliall 
cause the Bitter Root valley above the Lo 
Lo Fork to be surveyed and examined, and 
if in his judgment it should be found better 
adapted to the wants of the Flathead tribe, 
as a reservation for said tribe, it should be 
so set aside and reserved; and whereas the 
president did, on the 14th day of November, 
1871, issue his order setting forth that "the 
Bitter Root valley had been carefully sur- 
veyed and examined in accordance with 
said treaty," and did declare that "it is 
therefore ordered that all Indians residing 
in said Bitter Root valley, be removed as 
soon as practicable to the Jocko reservation, 
and that a just compensation be made for 
improvements made by them iii the Bitter 
Root valley, and whereas, the act of congress 
above recited approved June 5, 1872, makes 
provisions for such compensation; therefore: 

It is hereby agreed and covenanted by the 
parties to this instrument: 

First. That the party of the first part 
shall cause to be erected sixty good and sub- 
stantial houses, twelve feet by sixteen each, 
58 



■ 



1 






®1 
























if so large a number shall be needed for the 
accommodation of the tribe, three of said 
houses for the first, second and third chiefs 
of said tribe, to be of double the size men- 
tioned above; said houses to be placed in 
such portion of the Jocko reservation, not 
already occupied by other Indians, as said 
chiefs may select. 

Second. That the superintendent of In- 
dian affairs for Montana territory shall cause 
to be delivered to said Indians GOO bushels of 
wheat, the same to be ground into flour 
without cost to said Indians and delivered 
to them in good condition during the first 
year after their removal together with such 
potatoes and other vegetables as can be 
spared from the agency farm. 

Third, That said superintendent shall as 
soon as practicable, cause suitable portions 
of land to be enclosed and broken up for 
said Indians, and shall furnish them with 
sufficient number of agricultural imple- 
ments for the cultivation of their grounds. 

Fourth. That in carrying out the forego- 
fng agreement as much as possiljle shall 
be done at the agency by the employes 
of the government; and none of such labor 
or materials, or provisions furnished from 
the agency, shall be charged as money. 

Fifth. The whole of the $5,000 in money 
now in the hands of the said superintendent 
appropriated for the removal of said Indi- 
ans, shall be paid to them in such forms as 
their chiefs shall determine, except such 
portion as is necessarily expended in carry- 
ing out the preceding provisions of this 
agreement. 

Sixth. That there shall be paid to said 
tribe of Flathead Indians the sum of $50,000, 
as provided in the second section of the act 
59 



w\ 



I 



vmi 
















above recited, to be paid in ten annual in- 
stallments, in such manner and material as 
the president may direct; and no part of the 
payments herein promised shall in no way 
affect or modify the full right of said Indians 
to the payments and annuities now and 
hereafter due them under existing treaties^ 

Seventh. It is un ierstood and agreed that 
this contract shall in no way interfere with 
the rights ot any member of the Flathead 
tribe to take land in the Bitter Root valley, 
under the third section of the act above 
cited. 

Eighth. And the party of the second part 
hereby agree and promise that when the 
houses have been bttilt as provided in the 
first clause of this agreement they will re- 
move the Flathead tribe to said houses (ex- 
cept such as shall take land in the 
Bitter Root valley) in accordance 
with the third section oi the act above cited, 
and will thereafter occupy the Jocko reser- 
vation as their permanent home. But 
nothing in this agreement shall deprive said 
Indians of their full right to hunt and fish 
in any Indian country where they are now 
entitled to hunt and fish tinder existing 
treaties. Nor shall anything in this agree- 
ment be so constructed as to deprive any of 
said Indians so removing to the Jocko 
reservation from selling all their improve- 
ments in the Bitter Root valley. 

[Signed] James A. Garfield, 

Special commissioner for the removal of 
the Flatheads from the Bitter Root valley. 
Chaelot, 
(His X mark) 
First Chief of the Flatheads. 
Arlee, 
(His X mark) 
Second Chief of the Flatheads. 
60 






M 



m 



m 









famsifsi^isi 



M^^^M 



mmm 












Adolf, 
(His X mark) 
Third Chief of the Flatheads. 
Witness to contract and signatures: 
Wm. H. Clagett, 
D. G. Swain, 
Judge Advocate U. S. army. 
W. F. Sanders, 
J. A. Vial, 
B. F. Potts, 
Governor of Montana. 
I certify that I interpreted fully and care- 
fully the foregoing contract to the three 
chiefs of the Flatheads named above. 
Baptist Robwanen, 
(His X mark) 



Witness to signature: 



Interpreter. 

B. F. Potts, 
Governor. 





















A History of the Treaty with Old Flat- 
liead Cliief, 



The United States sub-commissioner's re- 
port continues: 

Chariot, although his name or mark is 
affixed to the published agreement, declares 
that he never signed it or authorized the 
signing, and the original agreement con- 
firms his statements. He has refused to 
leave the Bitter Root valley, some 3G0 of the 
tribe remaining with him. Under the third 
section of the act of 1872, patents for IGO 
acres of land each were issued to fifty-one 
members of the tribe, and Major Ronan, 
then agent, tendered them these patents, but 
they refused, and still refuse to take them. 
In regard to. General Garfield says in his 
report: 

A large number of heads of families and 
young men notified the superintendent that 
they had chosen to take up land in the val- 
ley under the third section. But it was evi- 
dent that they did this in the hope that they 
might all remain in the valley and keep 
their tribe together as heretofore, believing 
that each could take up 160 acres. 

The publication of the Garfield agreement 
with Chariot's signature or mark affixed to 
it created the impression that all trouble 
was over with the Indians, and a large 
white emmigration poured into the Bitter 
Root valley. The result is that the Indians 
who adhered to Chariot are yet in the val- 
ley, miserably poor, with one or two ex- 
ceptions, surrounded by whites who are 
anxious for their removal, and the young 
men, with no restraint upon them, loung- 
ing around the saloons in Stevensville and 

utterly worthless. As the case now stands 
63 



■ 
























f^«§]f^»^ 






these Indians have no title to any portion of 
the Bitter Root valley, as they refuse to 
take the patents and are defying the order 
of the president for their removal to the 
Jocko reservation. 

Chariot told us that he would never go to 
the Jocko reservation alive; that he had no 
confidence in our promise, "for," said he, 
"your Great Father Garfield put my name 
to a paper which I never signed, and the 
renegade Nez Perce, Arlee, is now drawing 
money to which he has no right. How can 
I believe you or any white man?" 

Continues the report: We are compelled 
to admit that there was much truth and jus- 
tice in his statement. That his name was 
falsely published as signed to the Garfield 
agreement is unfortunately true, as shown 
by the original. 

General Garfield in his report, page 111, 
says: 

The provisions of the contract were de- 
termined after full consultation with the 
superintendent and the territorial delegate, 
and finally the chiefs were requested to 
answer by signing or refusing to sign it. 
Arlee and Adolph, the second and third 
chiefs, signed the contracts and said they 
would do all they could to enforce it; but 
Chariot refused to sign, and said that if the 
president commanded it he would leave the 
Bitter Root valley, but at present would not 
promise to go to the reservation. The other 
chiefs expressed the opinion that if houses 
were built and preparations made according 
to the contract. Chariot would finally con- 
sent to the arrangement and go with the 
tribe. In a letter to J. A. Vial, superinten- 
dent of Indian affairs, bearing the same date 

with the contract and to be found on page 
63 



ii 

m 



m 



m^ 















5mm 









115 of the report of the commissioner ol 
Indian affairs for 1872. General GarfielJ 
says: 

In carrying out the terms of the contract 
made with the chiefs of the Flatheads for re- 
moving that tribe to this reservation (Jocko) 
I have conchided, after full consultation 
with you, to proceed with the work in the 
same manner as though Chariot, first chief, 
had signed the contract. I do this in the be- 
lief that when he sees the work going for- 
ward he will conclude to come here with the 
other chiefs and then keep the tribe un- 
broken. 

The report of Senator Vest and Delegate 
Maginnis further says: It is unfortunate 
that General Garfield came to this conclu- 
sion, and it is still more unfortunate that 
the published agreement as shown by the 
report of the commissioner of Indian affairs 
has the signature of Chariot affixed to it, 
whilst, as stated, the original agreement 
on file in the department of the in- 
terior does not show the signature of Char- 
lot, but confirms this statement that he did 
not sign it. The result of this publication 
has been to imbitter Chariot and render him 
suspicious and distrustful of the government 
and its agents. Many interested parties be- 
iieved or pretended to believe, that the 
agreement as published is correct, and that 
Chariot really signed it, and they have re- 
peated the statement until he and his band 
are exasperated at what they consider an 
attempt to rob them of their land by false- 
liood and fraud. 

The great cause of Chariot's bitterness, 

however, is the fact that Arlee, second chief, 

is recognized by the government as the head 

of the tribe, and has received all its bounty. 
64 



^J™^ pv^^TSl "SIvpC]-! p-^^ 

siMia l^iMimJ siMisJ IsilM 






\W^ 



m 

m 




MICHEL REVAIS, OFFICIAL INTERPRETER 
FLATHEAD AGENCY •'< 


















sims] 



mmm] 



This is such an insult as no chief can 
forgive and it must be remem- 
bered that Chariot is the son of 
Victor and the heriditory chief of his tribe. 
Looking at all the circumstances, the re- 
moval of part of his tribe without his con- 
sent, the ignoring his rights as head chief, 
and setting him aside for Arlee, the publica- 
tion of his name to an agreement which he 
refused to sign, we cannot blame him for 
distrust and resentment. In this the out- 
rage is the greater for the reason that Char- 
lot and his people have been the steady, un- 
flinching frieads of the whites under the 
most trying circumstances. When Joseph, 
the Nez Perce chief, came into the Bitter 
Root valley on his raid into Montana, 
Chariot refused to accept his proffered hand, 
because the blood of the white man was 
upon it; and he told Joseph that although 
the Flatheads and Nez Perces were of kin, 
if he killed a single white in 
the valley or injured the property 
of the white settlers the Flatiieads would at- 
tack him. To the action of Chariot the 
white settlers owed their safety, and at our 
conference an old warrior was pointed out 
(now blind and feeble), by one of the Jesu- 
ites, who had drawn his revolver and pro- 
tected the wife of the blacksmith at Stevens- 
ville from outrage at the hands of the Nez 

Perces. 

After exhausting argument and persua- 
sion we told Chariot very firmly that he and 
his people must either take patents or go to 
the Jocko reservation, that we knew he had 
been the friend of the whites and had been 
badly treated, but that the white settlers 
were all now around him and his people 
were becoming poorer every day, whilst his 
young men were drinking and gambling. 









ml 



m 



i 



i 
























mmm 



W) 



His only reply was that he would never 
be taken alive to the Jocko reservation, and 
we finally left him with the understanding 
that he would come to Washington and 
talk the matter over with the great father. 



The Cliief Went to Wasliington and Talked 
Matters Over. 



I am glad to learn that the interior de- 
partment has ordered Chariot and some of 
his tribe to be sent to Washington, and it is 
to be hoped that some agreement or ar- 
rangement can be had which will obviate 
the necessity for using force against these 
brave and unfortunate people. In any 
event, deeply as we sympathize with these 
people, and deplore the manner in which 
Chariot has been treated, we are satisfied 
with the welfare of both the whites and In- 
dians in the Bitter Root valley absolutely 
demands the removal of the latter to the 
Jocko reservation. Their presence in the 
valley is a continued source of danger and 
disgust. The titles to the lands are unset- 
tled and improvement is stopped by reason 
of the uncertainty existing in regard to the 
ultimate decision of the questions growing 
out of the present state of affairs. The Bit- 
ter Root valley is no place for them. Their 
condition is becoming more desperate every 
year and the few who have accumulated 
property are daily becoming poorer from 
their established usuage of never refusing to 
feed those who are hungry. If the necessity 
should at last come for removing them by 
force it should be done firmly but gently, 
and as Chariot and his band have received 
nothing out of the J50,000 paid to Arlee and 

those went with him, congress should ap- 
66 



\m\ 



a 

i 



















iu/-^m 






Major Roman, Chief Charlot, and Indian Delegation, 
Visit Washington in 1884. 



;/ 1 






pwmi pm^ fmims] fsr^Pl pmsi 
siMJ^ Isi^lJ^ IsiMy^ l^^^jeJ isiSm 



propriate such an amount as will provide 
them on the reservation with houses, grain 
and cattle, as stipulated in the treaty of 1885 
and the Garfield agreement. 

CHARLOT's trip to WASHINGTON. 

On the 16th day of January, 1884, the 
United States agent for the confederated 
tribes of Indians living upon the Flathead 
or .locko reservation, in accordance with in- 
sti-uctions of the honorable commissioner of 
Indian affairs, took his departure from Mis- 
soula, Montana Territory, for the city of 
Wasliington, accompanied by the following 
named delegation of Chariot's band of Bitter 
Root Flathead Indians: 

1. Head Chief Chariot— Slem-Hak-Kah. 
"Little claw of a grizzly bear." 

2. Antoine Moise — Callup-Squal-She. 
"Grain with a ring around his neck." 

3. Louis— Licoot-Sim-Hay. "Grizzly bear 
far away." 

4. John Hill— Ta-hetchet. "Hand Shot 
Off." 

5. Abel or Tom Adams— Swam- Ach-ham. 
'■Red Arm." 

And the official interpreter, Michel Ra- 
vais, whose Indian name is Chim-Coo-Swee, 
"The Man Who Walks Alone." 

The object of ordering the Indians to 
Washington was in accordance with the 
recommendationsof Senator Vest and Major 
^fartin Maginnis, the sub-committee of the 
United States senate committee, and was to 
try to secure Chariot's consent to remove 
with his band from the Bitter Root valley, 
and to settle upon the Jocko reservation. 
Nearly a month was spent at the national 
capital, and during that time several inter- 
views were held by the Indians and the 





















agent with the secretary of the interior, 
Hon. H. M. Teller, but no offer of pecuniary 
reward or persuasions of the secretary could 
shake Chariot's resolution to remain in the 
Bitter Root valley. An offer to build him 
a house, fence in and plow a sufficiency of 
land for a farm, give him cattle and horses, 
and seed and agricultural implements, and 
to do likewise for each head of a family be- 
longing to his band. Also a yearly pension 
of $500 to Chariot, and to be recognized as 
the heir of Victor, his deceased father, and 
to take his place as the head chief of the 
confederated tribes of the Flatheads, Pend 
d' OreiUes and Kootenai Indians living on 
the Jocko reservation, had no effect. His 
only answer to those generous offers was 
that he came to Washington to get the per- 
mission of the Great Father to allow him to 
live unmolested in the Bitter Root valley, 
the home of his father and the land of his 
ancestors. He asked for no assistance from 
the government, only the poor privilege of 
remaining in the valley where he was born 
and where' the dust of his tribe who lived 
before him was mingled with the earth. If 
any of his tribe desired to accept the bounty 
of the government and remove to the Jocko 
reservatioa they were at liberty to do so, and 
he would offer no objection; but it was his 
own and individual wish to live and die in 
the Bitter Root valley. 

At the last interview held with the secre- 
tary of the interior Chariot was told if he de- 
sired to live in the Bitter Root valley, he 
could do so as long as he remained in peace 
and friendship with the white settlers. No 
promise of assistance was given the chief or 
his band by the secretary so long as they re- 



I 



i 

i 









Si 






fSl^^lSl 



immm 



m> 



Ei>ifi[a 















mained in the Bitter Root valley. After an 
interview with President Arthur, arrange- 
ments were made for departure to Montana, 
without havine accomplished anything 
whatever looking to the removal of the 
chief and his hand to the Jocko reservation. 

Before departure from the capital, the sec- 
retary of the interior held a special inter- 
view with the agent, none of the Indians 
being present, and after patiently listening 
to his recital of the extreme poverty of Chief 
Chariot and his band, who received no aid 
or assistance from the government, the sec- 
retary gave the agent verbal instructions to 
proceed to the Bitter Root valley, as soon as 
practicable after his return to the Jocko 
reservation, and report to him through the 
commissioner of Indian affairs the wants 
and necessities of this unfortunate tribe; and 
also to give his views in detail as to the most 
practicable method for the department to 
relieve their wants, which should have con- 
sideration, and also to encourage them to 
remove to the Jocko reservation. 

On the evening of the 7th of March, 1884, 
the agent arrived in Missoula, Montana, 
from Washington with the Flathead In- 
dian delegation, where he procured wagon 
transportation and sent them to their homes 
in Bitter Root valley. The members of the 
Flatliead tribe were in the mountains hunt- 
ing for game with which to support their 
families, as they had no other resource for 
food in the winter season. The agent sent 
out runners to call them in, so that he 
could proceed according to verbal instruc- 
tions given to him by the secretary of the 
interior, on the 1st day of March, 1884. at his 

office in the interior department at Wash- 
69 






1 















BKlSi 















m 



ington, which was in effect, to go to the Bit- 
ter Root valley and report as to their neces- 
sities and wants and to their affairs gener- 
ally. Previously the agent had but very 
little intercourse officially with Chariot's 
band of Indians, but from conversation 
with the secretary of the interior he became 
convinced that his relations with them after- 
ward would become of a closer character. 

From consultations and councils with the 
Indians after his return the agent was h d to 
believe that the greater portion of Chariot's 
band would consent to remove to the Jocko 
reservation, if he would promise that the 
government would assist in building a house 
for each family, fence for each a field and 
furnish seed for the first year or two; give a 
wagon, harness and plow, with other agri- 
cultural tools, and also furnish at least two 
cows for each family, besides permitting 
those who had land improvements in Bit- 
ter Root valley to sell the same. 

A COUNCIL WAS HELD 

and twenty-one families agreed to remove, 
and to them, following the views of the hon- 
orable secretary of the interior, the agent 
promised: 

First — A choice of 160 acres of unoccupied 
land on the Jocko reservation. 

Second — Assistance in the erection of a 
substantial hoi;se. 

Third — Assistance in fencing and break- 
ing up a field of at least ten acres. 

Fourth — The following gifts: Two cows 
to each tamily, a wagon and harness, a 
plow, with all other necessary agricultural 
implements, seed for the first year and pro- 
visions until the first year was harvested. 

This was a moderate promise, and the In- 
70 






EIMISj 



ElMJS 









Mite 






dian department fulfilled it to the letter, 
and also authorized the construction of an 
irrigation ditch to cover tlie lands settled 
upon by the Flat heads. The government 
still generously assists these people to up- 
hold their hands in striving for a civilizen 
independence and a sustained well doing. 

The greater portion of families who re- 
moved under this arrangement held patents 
to lands in the Bitter Eoot valley, but left 
their farms for new homes, trusting to the 
government to make proper disposition of 
the same at some tuture time for their 
benefit. 

On the 12th of August, 1884, the agent 
made a thorough census, and found that 
this once great tribe, under the chieftainship 
of Chariot, in the Bitter Boot valley, con- 
sisted of the following numbers: 

Married men 79 

Unmarried males over 16 years 25 

Boys under 16 years G8 

Total number of males 172 

Married women 100 

Marriageable girls 4 

Girls under age pueberty 61 

Total number of females 165 

In all 342 individuals, of whom 101 were 
heads of families, who were then married or 
had been so. 

In January, 1885, the agent issued sup- 
plies to Chariot's band in the Bitter Root 
valley, this being the first distribution of 
any kind made among them by the govern 
nient since the Garfield agreement and for 
years before that agreement was drawn up. 
Wagons, plows, harness and agricultural 
implements were also issued by the agent 
and it was hoped that by devotion to agri- 
cultural pursuits that an area of prosperity 



mil 



i 






siMraJ IsiHsJ BiMfsJ 












m 



and civilization would dawn upon this rem- 
nant of a once great and powerful tribe. 



Sketches of Big Canoe, Adolph and Arlee, 
of Montana Indian Fame, 



Big Canoe, who was war chief of the 
Pend d'Oreilles, died in 1882, at the Flat- 
head agency, and was buried in the Indian 
burying ground at Fort Ignatius mission. 
He was 83 years of age at the time of his 
death, and was considered by the Indians to 
be one of the greatest war chiefs the tribe 
of the Pend d' Oreilles ever had. -The stories 
of battles led by him against Indian foes 
would fill a volume. As this aged warrior 
was well known to the old settlers of Mis- 
soula county, I feel tempted to give one of 
his stor'es, which was related to the writer 
in front|of a blazing camp fire some years be- 
fore his death, and which was noted down 
almost word for word as repeated from his 
lips by the interpreter. 

STORY OF BIG CANOE. 

Many snows ago, when I was a boy, and 
while Joseph or "Celp-Stop" (Crazy Coun- 
try) was head chief of the Pend d' Oreilles, I 
was one of a large hunting and war 
party who left the place where 
the white men call Missoula, for 
the purpose of killing buffalo and stealing 
horses in our enemies' country. We (the 
Flatheads and Pen d'Oreilles) were at war 
with the Blackfeet, the Crows the Sioux, the 
Snakes and the Gros Ventres. The Nez 
Percies were our allies and friends and as- 
sisted us to fight those tribes. 

While encamped in the Crow country 
Big Smoke, one of the bravest war chiefs of 

the Pen d'Oreilles, discovered Crow signs, 

73 



i 
I 









m 



Eransiri5JM§l o 









■ar^Uf]' 






and taking a party of his braves with him, 
followed upon the trail. The Crow camp 
was soon discovered, and, as Big Smoke 
started out more to get horses than to secure 
scalps, informed his warriors that he did 
not intend to attack the small party of 
Crows, who were now at his mercy, as the 
Pen d'Oreillesand Flatheadshad crept upon 
their camp undiscovered, and the Crows 
were resting in fancied security, their horses 
grazing upon the pleasant slopes unguarded, 
while the old warriors lolled about the 
camp smoking their pipes, and the young 
men were engaged in the wild sports and 
rude game practiced among the tribe. 

The announcement that we were not to 
have a fight was received with great marks 
of disfavor by our braves, and, as I was a 
young man and had not as yet taken my 
first scalp, I could not restrain myself, but 
cried like a woman. Big Smoke was known 
to be the bravest man in the tribe and no 
one of us dared impute his action to 
cowardise, and we therefore acquiesced in 
his plans, and when night came silently 
and cautiously we ran off the whole band 
of Crow horses and left our enemies on 
foot. We soon found our main encamp- 
ment and the horses were divided up. One 
particular fine black horse was given to our 
head chief. The day after our return the 
chief announced to us that our powder and 
lead was nearly exhausted, and as there was 
no way of procuring any without going to 
the Crow trading post, asked if there was 
any of his warriors brave enough to under- 
take the feat. 

Alexander, or Tem-Keth-tasme, which 

means No Horse, who afterwards suc- 
73 



mm 



M 



iSi 





















SIMM 



SIMM 



ceeded Joseph as chief, and who was 
then a young warrior and burning 
to distinguish himself, immediately volun- 
teered, and disguising himself as a Crow, 
after darkness came on, set out on his per- 
ilous journey. Arriving at the Crow stock- 
ade, he was immediately admitted by the 
trader, and was at once discovered to be a 
Pend d'Oreille by a Crow who was lounging 
about the post. Word was sent to the Crow 
camp that an enemy was in the stockade, 
and soon a loud demand was heard at the 
gate for admittance. The gate was opened 
and a single Indian was admitted. He was 
a tall, noble-looking fellow, dressed in the 
full war costume of a Crow brave. Halting 
immediately in front of Alexander, he 
reached out his hand and cordially grasped 
the hand of the Pend d'Oreille. "Canoe 
man you are brave. You have 
come among your enemies to purchase 
powder and lead. You are dead but still 
you live. I am Red Owl. Your warriors 
stole into my camp; they took my horses; 
they were strong, but stole upon us while 
we were unaware and spared the lives of 
my band. Canoe-man on that night I lost 
my war horse — a black horse with two holes 
bored in his ears. He was my fathers gift 
to me. Is there such a horse in your camp? 
Alexander replied that such a horse was 
given to his chief by Big Smoke after the 
capture. "Red Owl will go back with you 
into his enemies camp," and striding out of 
the stockade he harangued, and then pick- 
ing out twenty of his braves desired them to 
accompany him. Alexander was then al- 
lowed to make his purchases and on the 

next morning accompanied by Red Owl 

74 






m 



m 



m 



i 



H 






mmm 



ISIMJSJSIMS 









siMjsJ 



EMM 



MMM 












mMm 



and twenty of his warriors set out for the 
Pend d'Oreille camp. 

When arriving there the Indians were as- 
tonished 10 behold their trusted brave, Alex- 
ander, leading the Crow warriors arme 1 to 
the teeth, up to the lodge of their chief, who 
was soon surrounded by his brave Fend 
d'OreiUes in such overwhelming numbers 
that there was no escape or even hope to es- 
cape for the Crows. Red Owl dismounted 
and asked Alexander which was his chief. 
The person being pointed out Red Owl ad- 
dressed him: "Chief of the Canoe Indians, 
your braves captured a band of horses from 
my people. Among them was my war, 
and I love him, for he was the gift of my 
father. I desire the horse and have brought 
you as good to replace him." Our chief, 
who did not like to part with the horse, and 
who perfectly knew the advantage he pos- 
sessed, bent his head in silence. Red Owl 
repeated his speech, but our chief 
gave no reply but stood in stolid 
silence. "Chief of the Pend d'Oreil- 
les," exclaimed Red Owl, "twice 
have I spoken to you, and you gave me no 
answer. I repeat it again for the third 
time!" We were listesing to the conversa- 
tion, continued Big Canoe, and as young as 
I was; I could not but admire the brave 
Crow; surrounded as he was with his fol- 
lowers by implacable enemies, only await- 
ing the signal to begin the slaughter. But 
the brave bearing of the Crow, and his in- 
different manner won the respect of us all, 
and we could not help but admire him; and 
to such an extent did this feeling prevail 
that a murmur of applause went arouud 
when the Crow concluded his last sentence. 



JSIMJS 












I — \'\3^,:'f!i — 1 1 I — lArfty) I — I 



15^^^ 151^^^ 






mmM 






Ira 



straightening himself up to his full height, 
the Crow continued' turning to us: "Pen 
d'Oreilles, you have heard me addiess your 
chief; he gave me no answer; he buried 
his head low ; he changed his color ; this 
the subterfuge of a woman. Pend d'Oreilles. 
your chief is a woman ; I give him my 
horse ! " And mounting at the head 
of his band he rode from 

our camp and not one movement was made 
to stay his progress. So overwhelmed was 
our chief with confusion that he gave no 
orders, and Red Owl, with his followers, 
returned sate to his camp. 

ADOLPir, 

first war chief of the Flatheads, died at the 
agency in 1S87, at the age of 78 years. He 
marshalled and led the young warriors 
when the council was held at the agency, 
represented on the part of the United States 
by Hon. Jos. K. McCammon, assistant at- 
torney general of the interior department. 
The Northern Pacific Railroad company 
was represented, as attorney, by Hon. W. F. 
Sanders, now senator from Montana, while 
the Indian leaders and speakers in the coun- 
cil were Michel, chief of the Pend d'Oreilles; 
Eneas, chief of the Kootenais, and Arlee, 
chief of the reservation Flatheads. The 
council was held to negotiate with the In- 
dians for the right of way for the Northern 
Pacific Railroad company. On occasions 
the scenes were wild and stormy, but the 
level heaiied McComraon carried out the 
views of the government to a wise, generous 
and honorable settlement, and the memory 
of Mr. McCammon is cherished by the old 
chiefs of the tribes who still survive. 

Adolph was considered a great warrior 
76 



]g 



SSISI [2J^W ^vpSl 

l5iSa IsiMja SlMl^ 






IfSJ^iryisi 




and led the Flitheads as war chief against 
their enemies, wliich constiuuted all of the 
tribes who hunted buffalo on the Atlantic 
slope, except the Nez Perces, who were the 
friends and allies of the Flatheads. 

A battle with the Gros Ventres was fought 
some fifty years ago, about one mile west of 
O'Keefe's ranch, at the mouth of the can- 
yon where the Northern Pacific crosses the 
great Marant tressle and sweeps from the 
east into the Jocko mountains. Chief Fac- 
tor Kitson, of the Hudson Bay Fur com- 
pany, who had his headquarters at Thomp- 
son Falls on the Pend d' Oreille river, came 
with a pack train of supplies from that post 
to trade with the Flathead Indians, who 
were encamped near the site of the present 
city of Missoula. Having made his trade 
and secured the furs Mr. Kitson started his 
pack train up the canyon to unload at the 
company's warehouse at Thompson Falls. 
Two South Sea Islanders in the employ of 
Chief Factor Kitson went ahead with the 
train, but as they gained the entrance to 
the canon were fired upon by an ambushed 
party of Gros Ventres, consisting of about 
100 Indians. The two packers were slain, 
Mr. Kitson and others of his party were 
about a mile in the rear of the advance party 
or he and his companions would have 
shared the same fate Kitson turned back 
and informed the Flathead camp of the at- 
tack and the chiefs at once sounded the 
alarm. The warriors mounted their horses 
and headed by Adolph and Arlee made an 
advance on the camp of the hostiles. The 
Gros Ventres retreated across the hills and 
up Savallie creek, which is about seven 

miles west of Missoula. The Flatheads 
77 



I 



m 




































killed and scalped about one half of their 
number before they made their escape. The 
canon leading from O'Keefe's ranch to the 
reservation was called Coviaca Defile, after 
one of the unfortunate South Sea islanders 
who was killed by the Gros Ventres. 

ARLEE. 

On Thursday, August 8, at 4:30 p. m., 
Arlee, the last war chief of the Flatheads, 
and of the confederated tribes, died at his 
ranch, near the Flathead agency, and the 
Northern Pacific railroad station, called 
after him. His deathbed was surrounded by 
his Indian relatives, head men of the tribes 
and friends. Major Ronan, United States In- 
dian agent, Mrs. Ronan, Dr. Dade, the 
agency physician, and others connected 
with the agency staff were present. The 
Sunday before he died he was visited by 
Bishop Brondel, of Helena, and Rev. J. 
D'Aste, S. J., superior of St. Ignatius mis- 
sion, and from the latter received 
the last sacraments of the Cath- 
olic church. Arlee was baptized 
in his youth in the Bitter Root valley by 
Father De Smet. He accented the terms of 
General Garfield and removed to the Jocko 
reservation, and was made head chief of the 
reservation Flatheads by Mr. Garfield. 
Chief Charles never recognized Arlee after- 
wards; never spoke to him nor visited him 
up to the day of his death. Arlee was buried 
near the little church at the agency. He 
has gone to the happy hunting ground, and 
as he was the last of the war chiefs of his 
race and as an illustration of the prepara- 
tion of the dead chieftain for the grave, a 
translation of Schiller's beautiful burial 
song is here given. The translation is be- 
lieved to be by Bulwer: 
78 



m 



[ZJl 













Arlee, Last of the Flathead War Chiefs 



cHi.Wi^l cfn.W.ra c^Mra mMlT^ nm&: 












BURIAL OP THE CUIEFTAIN. 
See on his ma!, as if of yore, 

How lifelike sits he here; 
With the same aKf)ect that he wore 

When life to hiui was dear. 
But where the right arm's strength, and where 

The breath he used to breathe 
To the Great Spirit aloft in air, 

The peace pipe's lusty wreath? 
And where the hawk-like eye, alas! 

That wont the deer pursue 
Along the waves of rippling grass. 

Or fields that shone with dew? 
Are these the limber, bounding feet 

That swept the winter snowb? 
What startled deer was half so fleet. 

Their speed outstripped the roe's. 
These hands that once the sturdy bow 

Could supple from its pride. 
How stark and helpless hang they now 

Adown the slift'ened side! 
Yet weal to him! at peace he strays 

Where never fall the snows. 
Where o'er the meadow springs the maize 

That mortal never sows; 
Where birds are blithe in every brike, 

"Where forests teem with deer, 
Where glide the fish through every lake, 

One chase from yoar to yeir! 
With spirits now he feasts above; 

All left us, to revere 
The deeds vve cherish with our love, 

The rest we bury here. 
He"e bring the 1 st gi'ts; loud and shrill 

Wall death dirge of the brave! 
What pleased him most in life may siill 

Give pleasure in the grave. 
We lav the axe beneath his head 

He f wung when strength was strong, 
To bear on which his hunger fed— 

The way from earth is long! 
And here, new sharpened, place the knife 

Which served from the clay, 
From which the axe had spoiled the life, 

The conquered scalp away. 






amsi pms] pms] psis] pmsi p»^ 




MONTANA'S Tribute to Father Ravalli 



i 



LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. 

PAGE 

Major Peter Ronaii Frontispiece 

Signal of Successful Flathead War Party 1 1 
Indians who conducted Father DeSmet 

from St. Louis to Hitter Root Valley. . . i7 

Father Ravalli 33 

Millstone now in St Ignatius Mission 

Museum which ground first flour in 

Montana 35 

St. Ignatius Mission Flathead Valley .... 39 

Agent's Residence 62 

Michael Revais, ofificial, interpreter. . . 64 
Major Ronan, Chief Chariot and Indian 

delegation visit to Washington in 1 884. 67 

Chief Arlee and family 72 

Arlee, last of the Flathead War Chiefs . 78 

Montana's tribute to Father Ravalli 81 












;^' 












Tf^ 






LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

Copvright Mav 5, 1890. 
No. 14879 V. 



\ 



\ 



A. 



.^ 



.CTlfflSJlSlMftl 






cnSffa hm 




■ir . 



\^ "tr. .X^ * 



■n 



V 







> 






^™^^'' " .s^"^ "^^'^jKm^*' 



* J" % ^y^h^^v '^^' -^^ •.'v 






x"- -^^ 






vJ^ 



'M. 



A 



^. 



,-^\l°^^,%\ 



o 
o 



0' 



'M 






..^' 




.0 








^ a'«' *V 

O V r "^II^^^^,'"* Deacidifled using the Bookkeeper proo 

^ » ^^F^^,.^^ * Neutralizing Agent: Magnesium Oxide 

?>■ (p- f -^^^Wju^ ■• Treatment Date; 

'%* '■^^^ ,<" <, 






Ib 



BBR^EEPE 

PRESERVATION TECHNOLOGIES. 
111 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Twp.. PA 16066 
(412)779-2111 






6^ ^ - 4 -9^ 












\ c°^c^.^°o /..^I'X c°\c;^-'°o 



7^ * o V 



DOBBS BROS. 

LIQ.tAR" riNDIN<: 



♦I ST. AUGUSTINE 
.^^1% FLA. 



!.Ovl 







^; ..4 °., 



.0 



32084 ■V*. 






-J.-' 






.>?: .^'-V. V 



